March inquest set into death at remand unit

A delayed inquest into the remand death of Breanna Kannick has been set for March.

She died while on remand at Regina’s White Birch Remand Unit in August 2015.

An inquest into the 21-year-old’s death was to begin March 6, 2017 — but that was delayed after the province requested further tests take place on Kannick’s vomit. Now a new date is set, for March 2018. Kannick’s family is currently suing the province.

In a statement of claim, lawyers representing Kannick’s family allege the province and 11 individuals working at the remand facility “failed in their duties to take reasonable steps to ensure that Breanna was reasonably safe upon the premises.”

According to the statement of claim, which contains allegations not yet proven in court, Kannick did not receive proper medical assessment or treatment when she was brought to White Birch.

It alleges she “repeatedly asked for medical attention” but was refused. “No doctor ever attended Breanna, nor was she taken to the hospital,” reads the statement.

Kannick had diarrhea and was vomiting, but “at no point did guards, nurse, staff or employees look into providing medical attention and/or treatment,” the claim states.

She, according to the claim, repeatedly asked to be taken to a doctor or hospital but, “these requests were repeatedly denied, mocked, ignored nor were they otherwise acted upon in a timely fashion.”

According to the claim, Kannick hit her head minutes before she died, and the guards “did nothing to check on her after her fall and striking her head.”

The statement says staff attempted to place an oxygen mask on her after she fell and claims “one worker’s certification had expired regarding first aid and CPR and attempts at resuscitation were negligently performed.”

A statement from the province said, “As this matter is before the courts we cannot comment at this time.” At the time of Kannick’s death, Ministry of Justice officials said she died after going into “medical distress.”

A review of operations at White Birch was done by the Ministry of Justice after Kannick’s death.

That resulted in about $400,000 in extra spending on the facility, most of which was used to ensure there was a larger presence of medical professionals there.