Mesic inquest continues

The inquest into the death of Steve Mesic continued Friday with a group that advocates for people with mental illness taking the stand. The group called “Empowerment Council” was granted standing in the proceeding after lawyers for police argued against it saying the evidence would be irrelevant or prejudicial. But lawyers for the family wanted to hear from them.

The Empowerment Council is an arm of the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health (CAMH). They are a voice and advocate for people with mental illness. The coroner allowed their testimony today saying the group has special knowledge that would assist the inquest it was in the public interest.

Steve Mesic was shot and killed by police on June 7 th 2013, shortly after walking out of a secure psychiatric unit at St. Joseph’s Hospital.

Even after he was dead, nursing staff at St. Joseph’s recorded seeing Mesic in the psychiatric unit of the hosptial — raising questions about charting and how much personal contact staff at the hosptial has with patients.

Jennifer Chambers with the Empowerment Council wants to see changes made in that area as well as how police interact with those with mental illness: “I think if it’s an emotionally disturbed persons call they need to recognize that person is primarily afraid., that most are survivors of abuse and anything they can do to diffuse the fear would de-escalate the situation. that is they have regular periods of interaction with clients. it mot sure if it was a case of mistaken ientity or some other kind of error but if they actually have a conversation with someone it would be pretty difficult to mistake them with being not there or being there when they’re not.”

The jury will now have to answer a number of questions including, how Mesic died and by what means. Final submission will be on Monday. The jury can then make recommendations as to how to prevent deaths in similar situations in the future.