Justice for Jeffrey mass action: Rally presses for inquest

Justice for Jeffrey mass action: Rally presses for inquest

TORONTO – The office of the chief coroner of Ontario has yet to deliver on its promise to conduct an inquest into last year’s fatal shooting of Jeffrey Reodica, and the teen’s family and supporters are getting frustrated.

Their dissatisfaction was voiced out during a recent rally commemorating Jeffrey’s one-year fatal shooting anniversary, held in front of the chief coroner’s office.

“Justice delayed is justice denied. We do not understand what the delay is,” shouted Jeffrey’s older brother, Joel Reodica, as he addressed hundreds of supporters at the rally.

Last September, the Special Investigations Unit (SIU) exonerated the police officers involved in the shooting death of Jeffrey. Almost immediately after the SIU report was released, Chief Coroner Dr. Barry McLellan announced he will conduct an inquest on the matter.

Nine months later, no inquest has commenced.

“We are standing here now, May 21st, almost one year after my brother was shot, and still the coroner has not given us a date as to when they are going to hold the inquest,” Joel said.

Jeffrey, a Grade 11 student at Jean Vanier Catholic School in Scarborough, died in hospital few days after being shot three times by undercover police officer Dan Belanger. In its report, the SIU said Belanger was legally justified for shooting Jeffrey because the teen was trying to attack the officer with a knife.

Jeffrey’s gunshot wounds were all in the back, indicating he was shot while his back was turned.

The Justice for Jeffrey peace march and rally, held on Saturday, May 21st, converged at the Nathan Phillips Square, stopped briefly in front of the Metro Toronto Police Headquarters on College St. and ended with a program in front of the Coroner’s Office on Grosvenor St. Hundreds of participants held up placards and banners with messages such as, “If you want to get away with murder, join the police!” and “Save our sons!”

“One year after my brother was shot and killed, my family has never been the same,” Joel said.

Jeffrey was the youngest of three siblings. His parents, Willie and Flora, put up brave faces at the rally as they held up a white banner bearing Jeffrey’s face with the message, “Justice for Jeffrey”.

Though his family is pushing for the immediate commencement of the Coroner’s inquest, Willie seems to be having a hard time keeping his hopes up.

He said the result of the SIU investigation was a “bad experience” for him and felt it was a “betrayal” of his trust on Canada’s justice system.

“The way the SIU (investigation) was done was flawed and inconsistent, (with) cover-ups for the protection of the police,” Willie said.

While waiting for the coroner’s inquest, lawyers for the Reodicas are exploring other avenues in the pursuit of truth. According to Willlie, his legal team had just filed a petition for judicial review before the Superior Court of Ontario, under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedom.

He said the petition asked the court to issue a subpoena for police agencies to make available records pertinent to the SIU’s investigation on Jeffrey’s death.

Willie said his lawyers are specifically interested in the police notes made by subject police officers, as well as actual witness statements submitted to the SIU.

Police accountability

Jeffrey was one of six men killed by Toronto police officers in 2004, according to Anna Willats, of the Toronto Police Accountability Coalition (TPAC). All six men shared a common denominator, coming from marginalized communities.

The weapons, however, vary from guns to tasers to pepper sprays, and sometimes even the police vehicle as in the case of a homeless woman who was run over by a police car at the corner of Victoria Park and Queen early this year, said Willats.

“We need to be aware that someone is dying as a result of contact with Toronto police at a rate of every two months for the last year and half,” said Willats, who addressed the crowd at the Justice for Jeffrey rally.

Willats cited the altercation between two groups of teenagers, which transpired before Jeffrey was shot. She said the police officers are supposed to “de-escalate” situations like those, not pull out their guns and “make the situation worse.”

“(The police officers) are supposed to get training on how to de-escalate these kinds of situations. (Either) they are not paying attention to these trainings or they are not getting it,” said Willats.

No police officer has ever been held responsible for any of the six deaths in 2004, she said. The investigations of these deaths were all conducted by the SIU, which is called in to investigate whenever death or injury occurs involving police officers.

“The police (officers) are not judge and jury. There is no death sentence in this country for getting involved in a fight, for robbing a store, for threatening a police officer, for suffering from a mental crisis. These do not warrant a death sentence in Canada, but these people are receiving death sentences at the hands of the police, and we have to stand up against it,” Willats said.

Across communities

The Reodica family’s year-long quest for truth and justice has reverberated across other cause-oriented groups and communities, as evidenced by the turnout of people at the rally.

Representatives from organizations such as TPAC, People’s Front, Black Action Defense Committee, Community Alliance for Social Justice, Filipino Canadian Youth Network, Ontario Coalition Against Poverty, and the Young Left Youth Action Committee lent their support for the Reodica cause.

Urban Alliance, through its president Zanana Akande, has also given its support for the rally. Akande accepted to speak at the start of the rally at Nathan Philips Square but was unable to because of illness.

Chanting words such as “Inquest Now”, “Stop racist cops!”, “No justice, no peace, no racist police!” echoed through the front steps of the Metro Toronto Police Headquarters.

“The Reodicas cannot be made to wait because in the meantime, how many more Jeffreys will there be, how many more lessons will not be learned by the police service if we allow them to go unaccountable, if we allow their officers to believe that they can shoot, unarmed, innocent people and get away with it,” Willats said.

Philip Fernandes of the People’s Front highlighted the evils of racism in the police force.

He said Jeffrey’s shooting was an “act of state racist violence – the racist Canadian state that is organized to brutalize any person, any minority that stands up for their rights.”

Fernandes called for a civilian body that would investigate and decide on incidents of police violence. As the SIU is made up of former police officers, “how can you expect justice when police are investigating police?” he said.

“When the people who are bound to uphold the law, take the law into their own hands, this should be investigated and punished, and that is the only way to get police accountability,” he said.