Yusuf Faqiri is Soleiman Faqiri’s eldest brother and the founder of the Justice for Soli movement.
Last week, my family went to Queen’s Park to ask for an apology from Premier Doug Ford and the Ontario government for the 2016 death of my brother Soleiman Faqiri, who was beaten by provincial correctional officers.
But as my mother Maryam and I waited with determination in the gallery at the legislature, the Premier who claims to care for the people – “the little guy” – didn’t just decline to apologize; he didn’t even acknowledge our presence.
In December, an Ontario government inquest into Soleiman’s death in the Central East Correctional Centre deemed it to be a homicide. It also made 57 recommendations with respect to the crisis inside the corrections system for the mentally ill. One was that Ontario should have 60 days to issue a public statement to acknowledge that jails are not the appropriate environment for those suffering with mental health challenges. Another was the creation of an independent provincial corrections inspectorate with investigative powers. This inspectorate, equipped with legislative authority and power, would be able to hold the system accountable and effect real change.
But that 60-day deadline has passed. And despite a 2023 open letter to the Solicitor-General Michael Kerzner, signed by more than 40 organizations and many individuals demanding an oversight and accountability body, there has still been no response.
In fact, not a single reform is under way.
This government indifference is continuing to cost lives. A 2023 report from Ontario’s chief coroner studied the cases of 186 individuals who died in correctional centres between 2014 and 2021 (and were not deemed a homicide), and found that nearly all of these deaths were preventable. These numbers have only gotten worse over the years, going from 19 deaths in 2014 to more than doubling to 46 in 2021. In 2022, the Tracking (In)justice transparency project estimated that since 2010, there have been more than 280 deaths in Ontario’s provincial jails and prisons.
And just last month, in a painful echo of what my brother went through, a man named Ibrahim Ali, who suffered from schizophrenia, died tragically in the Toronto South Detention Centre.
Like Soleiman, Mr. Ali was “too unwell to be determined if he was too unwell.” Like Soleiman, he was beaten – in Mr. Ali’s case, by another prisoner, rather than correctional staff. Like Soleiman, he was returned to his family in a body bag.
How many more tragic deaths and inquests do we need until governments do their duty, which is to protect our most vulnerable?
Efforts have even been made to hold them to their word. In February, the Ontario Human Rights Commission filed a motion at the Human Rights Tribunal of Ontario against the province for failing to comply with the 2013 Christina Jahn settlement and a 2018 consent order regarding the use of segregation in Ontario corrections. In that settlement, Ontario recognized the harm that segregation can cause to inmates suffering from mental health crises. Yet, more than a decade since Ms. Jahn was forced to spend an alleged 210 days in segregation, the government has done nothing to remedy the systematic issues that led to that outcome.
Why does the government continue to devote so many resources toward inquests if it is not interested in implementing them? Is this a placebo, or an insidious form of silencing?
According to recent data, more than 80 per cent of inmates in Ontario jails last year were still awaiting trial, and were thus technically legally innocent. My brother and Mr. Ali were two such examples. These vulnerable individuals have loved ones who care about them. Some families mistakenly believe that their loved one will receive the appropriate support in corrections; instead, they are abandoned to inexpertise and secrecy. Some even die.
Ontarians deserve transparency from their prison system. To take away someone’s freedoms is a heavy responsibility that should only be done under the most rigorous scrutiny – and certainly, they should not face death.
A private members’ bill known as the Justice for Soli Act (Stop Criminalizing Mental Health) in honour of my brother was tabled in the Ontario legislature last week. The Act would require the province to recognize that a correctional facility is not an appropriate environment for a person experiencing a mental health crisis and that mental illness should not be criminalized. This bill aligns with the first recommendation made by the Ontario chief coroner’s inquest into Soleiman’s death.
I demand that the government hear me. Until there are no more Soleiman Faqiris – and no more Ibrahim Alis – I will not go away.