By Jeff Shantz, December 18, 2019
Soleiman Faqiri, a 30-year-old man who experienced mental health issues, was killed by guards while being held at the Central East Correctional Centre (CECC) in Lindsay, Ontario on December 15, 2016. He had been awaiting medical evaluation and a bed at the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health at the time he was killed. A coroner’s report after the killing revealed that Soleiman Faqiri had sustained 50 injuries on his body, many of which were due to blunt force trauma. A witness reported that guards beat, kicked, and stomped him while he was wearing a spit hood covering his head and face.
Despite the severity and brutality of the beating that killed Soleiman Faqiri, the City of Kawartha Lakes Police Service released a statement on October 30, 2017, asserting that “no grounds exist to process criminal charges against anyone who was involved with Mr. Faqiri prior to his death.” This addition of further injustice on an already unjust case has led to campaigns across Canada calling for “Justice for Soli.”
On December 15, 2019, vigils were held in communities across Canada to remember Soleiman Faqiri and to raise voices calling for more awareness about this killing and speaking against the brutality and injustice at the heart of criminal justice systems in Canada. Of particular issue is the mistreatment of people experiencing mental health issues who are policed and jailed rather than receiving needed social supports. Vigils were held in Halifax, Montreal, Ottawa, Peterborough, Toronto, Winnipeg, and Vancouver.
I attended the vigil at the Claire Calhoun Memorial Bench at Trout Lake in East Vancouver. The event was hosted by prison abolition organizers Meenakshi Mannoe and Magin Manolete. Speakers included Maggie Knight, Acting Executive Director, BC Civil Liberties Association, Kashif Ahmed, Chair, National Council of Canadian Muslims, the Justice for Tony Du Campaign, Lora McElhinney of prisoner support and prison abolition group Joint Effort.
Perhaps most poignant were the words of Yin Yin Din whose brother Kyaw Din was shot and killed by Ridge Meadows RCMP on August 11, 2019. Kyaw Din too had been experiencing mental health problems when he was gunned down by RCMP in his own bedroom. Yin Yin Din spoke to the violence of policing and their inappropriate role in responding to mental health crises. The Din family is also calling for justice and are still trying to find out the names of the officers involved in killing their loved one. Such information is typically denied even to families in the Canadian context, a fact that makes our communities much less safe.
The Justice for Tony Due campaign also spoke about the awful killing of Tony Du in Vancouver in 2014. Tony Du was killed by Vancouver police while he was also experiencing mental distress. A coroner’s report heard that Vancouver police opened fire on Tony Du within 30 seconds of arriving on the scene. Witnesses said that police could have acted differently in that situation and did not need to resort to force. The person who called 911 has always regretted that decision and does not believe Tony Du would have hurt anyone.
Police are social services. Jails and prison are not housing. We need to defund repressive institutions and provide resources instead for needed community supports based in community care and wellbeing.
