Father of Saskatchewan man who drowned while fleeing police seeks new inquest

Alexander Donard wants the Saskatchewan Coroners Service to hold a new inquest into his son’s death, dissatisfied with a lack of answers about why and how his 31-year-old son drowned while fleeing police in the Stony Rapids area in 2017.

In September, a five-person jury that heard testimony at an inquest held into Ryan Donard’s death made no recommendations and did not determine a cause of death. The inquest, which Alexander attended, took place in Black Lake from Sept. 9 to 12. He said he plans to ask the Coroners Service for a new hearing.

“My family is having a very hard time with this. We’re going through lots doing this,” he said.

Ryan Donard fled after RCMP arrived at a home in Stony Rapids in February 2017 to investigate a complaint about a disturbance. Taking off on foot, he was last seen entering the Fond du Lac River, where he was presumed drowned. On June 26, 2017, someone in a float plane found what was later confirmed to be his body in Fond du Lac Lake.

The Prince Albert Police Service conducted an external investigation at the RCMP’s request; the RCMP also asked the Ministry of Justice to provide an external observer.

Alexander Donard said he has come away from the process not knowing why police chose to pursue his son or why his son’s body was so badly decomposed, since the water would have been cold at the time. He said he also has concerns that the initial investigative work by police was done while it was dark.

He said he hasn’t received a coroner’s report about his son’s death.

An inquest is not a criminal process, but is meant by statute to provide a means for an independent investigation into the circumstances surrounding “unexpected, unnatural or unexplained deaths,” to determine the deceased person’s identity and circumstances of their death. It’s also meant to uncover dangerous practices or conditions that may lead to death and educate the public about these practices or conditions. The jury can make non-binding recommendations to prevent future deaths.

The legislation, passed in 1999, remains in effect, but could be updated if a bill that would provide coroners new powers passes in the spring session of the provincial legislature.

Chief Coroner Clive Weighill said under the existing act, it’s up to the Minister of Justice or chief coroner to determine whether there should be a new inquest or what other actions should take place. To date, he hasn’t received any review requests from families, he said.

He noted that under the act, in situations where a jury majority cannot come to agreement on a finding, the minister or chief coroner can direct the coroner to summon a new jury and hold a new inquest or take any other actions as directed by the minister or chief coroner.

“If a family was to discover any substantive new evidence that could possibly alter the findings, they could submit this evidence to the chief coroner for a decision,” Weighill said.

No changes to the review process are in the proposed legislation.

If the bill passes in the spring session, the amendments will, among other things, allow presiding coroners to make recommendations. The inquest coroner could base recommendations on previous inquests, but inquests determine basic facts — who, what, where and when, and the medical cause of their death — so there is a finite amount of information with which an inquest coroner can make a recommendation, Weighill said.

The coroner’s service has five lawyers who are sworn in as coroners for inquests. They are learned people, but their purpose has been to preside over inquests, Weighill said.

“That’s why we asked the minister to have the act changed. They’re sitting there, they’re listing to the evidence, and they probably would be a very good asset to also make recommendations.”

The coroners service will also hire a liaison to help families of deceased people, including through the inquest process. That change came from the 44 recommendations Weighill made in a 2018 review submitted to the province.

“We find with a lot of inquests the families have a misunderstanding, they think there’s going to be a finding of criminality. That’s not the case — it’s to find the medical cause, medical manner of death. Lots of times, after an inquest is over and recommendations are coming out, if nobody is found (to have) criminal responsibility, the family feels it hasn’t been worthwhile,” he said.

“My family is having a very hard time with this. We’re going through lots doing this.” Alexander Donard