Look at bigger issues, coroner told
Loku inquest should consider race, mental illness, rights groups urge
The upcoming coroner’s inquest into the high-profile police shooting death of Andrew Loku must examine the role race and mental illness may have played in the unnamed Toronto police officer’s decision to pull the trigger, says a coalition of rights groups.
Representatives from the Canadian Civil Liberties Association, the Law Union of Ontario, Ryerson University’s criminology department and more are to- gether urging Ontario’s coroner’s office to ensure the scope of Loku’s inquest includes the role bias, including anti-black racism, may have played in police actions that led to Loku’s death.
In a written submission to Dr. John Carlisle, the coroner presiding over Loku’s inquest, the groups say the inquest’s aims must be to serve the public interest, determine the circumstances of Loku’s death and prevent future deaths.
“None of these goals can be accomplished if Mr. Loku’s race, immigration and mental health status are kept out of the inquest process,” reads the submis- sion, provided to Carlisle late last week and obtained by the Star.
Coroner’s inquests, however, are intended to probe the specific circumstances of one death, said Cheryl Mahar, spokesperson for Ontario’s coroner’s office. Coroners therefore consider matters and issues germane to the facts and circumstances of the particular death.
“Having said that, inquests are not public inquiries nor are they Royal Commissions so they are not a vehicle to be used to examine broad societal issues,” Mahar said in an email. “There is case law to this effect which we adhere to.”
No date has yet been set for Loku’s inquest, though it’s expected to take place next year.
Loku, a 45-year-old father and immigrant from South Sudan, was killed by an unnamed Toronto police officer on July 5, 2015. The fatal shooting took place inside Loku’s apartment complex in northwest Toronto, a building where units are leased by the Canadian Mental Health Association (CMHA) to provide affordable housing for people with mentalhealth challenges.
This year, Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit (SIU) — the civilian police watchdog that probes deaths involving police — announced that no charges would be laid in Loku’s death.
According to the SIU, Loku was wielding a small hammer and advancing on two Toronto police officers who had been summoned to the apartment by a 911 call, saying a man with a hammer was threatening a female neighbour.
SIU director Tony Loparco concluded the officer was justified in shooting to prevent an imminent hammer attack.
That conclusion ran counter to one witness, who maintains that Loku had calmed down and did not pose a threat to anyone, including the officers, at the time of his death.
The watchdog’s decision prompted outraged demonstrations from groups including Black Lives Matter, which initiated a two-week, round-the-clock protest outside Toronto police headquarters.
Demonstrators demanded more information about the SIU’s investigation into Loku’s death — including the names of the officers involved as well as a more detailed explanation of the grounds on which the officer was cleared.
Under mounting public pressure for greater transparency and accountability in the case, the province released a heavily censored version of the SIU director’s report into Loku’s death.
But it omitted the names and much of the testimony of all police officers and witnesses.
Without a criminal trial, the upcoming coroner’s inquest into Loku’s death is poised to be the best opportunity to learn what happened in the final moments of Loku’s life.
Both witnesses and police officers will be summoned to give testimony.
In its written submission to Carlisle, the coalition says a key issue the inquest should explore is how much officers knew about Loku prior to their arrival on scene, including whether they knew, or ought to have known, that the building housed people with mental-health challenges.
“The jury should examine whether any other kind of mental health label was attached to Mr. Loku by police en route to the apartment,” the submission reads.
The groups also urge the coroner to allow jurors to consider the combined impact of Loku’s race and mental health status, particularly since many people killed by police have been racialized individuals with mental-health problems.
“The intersection of race, immigration and mental-health status in Andrew Loku’s case may have generated suspicion and exacerbated officers’ fears before or in the moment they encountered him,” reads the submission.
Steve Lurie, executive director of CMHA’s Toronto branch, said it’s vital that such questions be asked.
“These questions are very, very relevant to determining what actually happened, and also to the inquest responsibility to develop recommendations about how to avoid these things happening in the future.”
Peter Rosenthal, a Toronto lawyer who has represented numerous families of police shooting victims at coroner’s inquests, said it is often difficult to prove the victim’s race played a role in the death.
Nonetheless, it should be explored whenever possible, precisely because it can influence the jury’s recommendations.
“It’s conceptually important to leave that on the table, given the fact that in general we know that race is a serious issue here,” Rosenthal said.
In the wake of Loku’s death, the Ontario government also launched an independent review of police oversight agencies in the province, including the SIU.
That review, led by Ontario Court of Appeal Justice Michael Tulloch, is ongoing. Wendy Gillis can be reached at wgillis@thestar.ca.