Evans demands justice minister release more information on Henoche homicide

As another day passed and silence persistedaroundthe arrests of 10 penitentiary guards in the killing of an Indigenous inmate, MHA Lela Evans called the quietnessshameful and damaging to public trust in justice.

The 10 guards have yet to be formally charged, though police have said three will be charged with manslaughter and seven will face charges of negligence causing death in the homicide ofJonathan Henoche, 33, at Her Majesty's Penitentiary on Nov. 6, 2019.

Until those charges are sworn at provincial court, the guards will not be named by the Royal Newfoundland Constabulary.

Evans, the MHA for Henoche's home region on the north coast of Labrador, said the lack of information is hurting her constituents.

"This is a dark day for Newfoundland and Labrador. It's very, very dark, and the shroud of secrecy is what's casting a shadow over this province," she said Wednesday.

Evans said the police need to be more transparent, and if there is a reason the charges cannot be sworn and the names released, that reason should be given to the public.

Without basic information,people are leftto "fill in the blanks," she said, which leads them to believe the guards are being treated differently than the general population, and Indigenous people in particular.

"Jonathan Henoche died while he was in custody where he was supposed to be safe and protected, and he wasn't," Evans said. "That strikes fear in the hearts of our Indigenous people.The Innu and the Inuit of Labrador are really concerned because we have a higher rate of people [incarcerated]."

While police have at least released the ages of the guards and what the recommended charges are, the Justice Department has been silent on questions surrounding operational impacts at Her Majesty's Penitentiary, the status of the guards, and exactly what happened on Nov. 6, 2019.

In a brief statement emailed tonews outletsafter the arrests, Justice Minister Steve Crocker expressed condolences but said he couldn't comment furtherbecause it's a human resources matter.

Evans said she's disappointed the death of an Indigenous man in custody is being dealt with in such a way.

"I think the minister needs to step up.He needs to do his job and do it properly and communicate to everybody. Not just Indigenous groups, but to every Newfoundlander and Labradorian and actually tell them what's going on," she said.

"Because of confidentiality and because these people haven't gone through the justice system yet, I understand that they have to be discreet, but they have to communicate with us. If not, we're just going to lose confidence totally and it will be a really uphill battle to restore that. And the justice minister should be ashamed of himself, really, honestly."

Late Thursday, Crocker emailed a statement in response to questions fromCBC, reiterating that his department will not share information related to correctional officers. The statement cited privacy legislation that prohibits government agencies from disclosing the personal information of public service employees.

"Iappreciate the great amount of interest and concern regarding this case, but as this matter will be prosecuted, I cannot and will not discuss the details of what happened," said the statement, which also notedthe names of the accused are typically listed on the court docket once the charges are sworn.

"I will say that we take the responsibility of having inmates in our care very seriously and hope we never find ourselves in this type of situation again."

Awareness needed for northern issues

The entirety of the situation has left Evans feeling downhearted.

Labrador lost an iconic volunteer and a beautiful soul in Regula Schule, the 88-year-old woman Henoche was accused of killing.

After two years in custody without a trial, Henochedied behind bars in an apparently violent incident that's been shrouded in silence ever since.

"We have to look at the loss of life," Evans said."Regula Schule was a wonderful woman. She did so much for the community. And also with Jonathan Henoche, you know, he deserved his day in court. He was robbed of that. Even the people who were close to him, who were angry at him, they said he deserved to live."

Evans said more people need to understand what life is like on the north coast of Labrador, and how people like Henoche born with fetal alcohol spectrum disorder are let down by the systems that should protect them.

His story is similar to other Indigenous people behind bars in this province.

"If you go in and talk to them, and hear their life stories, it would be very sad and I think people would have a better understanding because a lot of our people are incarcerated because of and I hate to use the term because it's so overused intergenerational trauma," she said.

"Until we actually get at the root of that and we protect future generations, we are going to continue to have intergenerational trauma, and we are going to have people in the courts and the justice system and incarcerated. We need to believe that they are going to be safe. We need to believe they are going to be protected and that's something that all Newfoundlanders and Labradorians need to be concerned about."

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