Brian Sinclair's family pulls out of inquest

Robert Sinclair has been asking questions for five-and-a-half years ever since his cousin Brian died sitting in his wheelchair in a Winnipeg emergency room, unattended for 34 hours. Now, halfway through an inquest into Brian's death, the Sinclair family has pulled out upset and disappointed. Today ... the criticism of an inquest that critics say isn't inquiring about much....

CBC Radio · Posted: Feb 20, 2014 12:00 AM EST | Last Updated: February 20, 2014

The Current13:54Brian Sinclair's family pulls out of inquest - Feb 20, 2014

Five years ago my cousin died in hospital where apparently on video... was apparently mistreated. Now that Mr. Preston has made some decisions in regards to not hearing that type of evidence which is based on race, poverty and stigmatization of an individual. Where do we go from here? I don't know. We came here for the truth. Well it's obvious that we won't get the whole truth, that the government is sugar-coating serious problems that exist for aboriginal people in Manitoba hospitals.Robert Sinclair on way Manitoba Provincial court Judge Timothy Preston is running the inquest into the death of his cousin, Brian Sinclair

In 2008, Brian Sinclair, an aboriginal man died after waiting 34 hours in the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre's emergency room. He was a double amputee, sent to the hospital by a community clinic after not urinating for 24 hours. In the end he died from a treatable bladder infection.

The inquest is starting its second phase but Mr. Sinclair's family and aboriginal groups are pulling out. They say the inquest will fail to address the role racism and discrimination played in his treatment and death.

The CBC's Ryan Hicks has been following the inquest and he was in Winnipeg.

Dr. Alika Lafontaine is an anesthesiologist and Vice-President of the Indigenous Physicians Association of Canada. He believes that what happened to Brian Sinclair is a tragic example of the kind of treatment many aboriginal people receive. Dr. Lafontaine joined us from Grande Prairie, Alberta.

We did request an interview with Judge Timothy Preston and he declined. As did Manitoba Attorney General Andrew Swan however his office sent us a statement. It reads in part:

Immediate action was taken following Mr. Sinclair's death to determine what went wrong and make changes so that something like this can't happen again, including changing how patients are greeted, triaged and monitored in the waiting room ... There is an inquest underway and it is important that we let that process unfold and learn everything we can from it. The findings of this inquest will be invaluable as we move forward.

We also invited officials at the Health Sciences Centre -- the hospital where Brian Sinclair died -- to join us but they declined. They did however send us a statement. In part it reads:

"As we've previously acknowledged, Mr. Sinclair's death was preventable. He came to us seeking care, and we failed him. His death identified a gap in the way the Health Sciences' Centre Emergency Department functioned at that time, a gap that missed an individual seeking care, leaving him untriaged and ultimately resulting in his death. Several improvements have been made to the emergency room since that time. We have apologized to Mr. Sinclair's family, are committed to participating fully in the inquest, and look forward to receiving its recommendations so we are able to make any further improvements to the services we provide."

Have thoughts you want to share with us on this segment?

Tweet us @thecurrentcbc. Or e-mail us through our website. Find us on Facebook. Call us toll-free at 1 877 287 7366. And as always if you missed anything on The Current, grab a podcast.

This segment was produced by The Current's Lara O'Brien and Catherine Kalbfleisch.

You may be interested in these segments from CBC's White Coat, Black Art