Pivot calls for inquest into death of homeless man

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE – February 4, 2008

Pivot Legal Society is calling for a coroner’s inquest into the death of Darrell Mickasko, a homeless man who burned to death on January 31 trying to keep warm on the streets of Vancouver. Mr. Mickasko was burned three blocks away from the Lookout North emergency shelter, which was full that evening.

“The mandate of the Coroner’s Service in B.C. is to ensure that no death is ignored or overlooked, and to attempt to prevent similar deaths from taking place in the future,” said David Eby, a lawyer with Pivot Legal Society. “Darrell’s death was entirely preventable, and we don’t want the circumstances of his passing to be overlooked – this man died of homelessness.”

Mr. Mickasko was well known to Mr. Eby, and had stored his belongings for weeks in the parking garage below Pivot’s offices as he searched for a place to live. Eby recalls that Mickasko was in and out of housing in the year before his death. Just two weeks before he died, Mr. Mickasko said he had saved up some money for a damage deposit and asked Eby whether he knew of anywhere he could rent. Eby told him there was hardly anything available.

“This is not a case of someone who didn’t want to live inside,” says Eby. “Darrell and his partner were trying to keep from freezing to death in Vancouver’s streets at a time when our shelter system is grossly overburdened and inaccessible. He wanted and needed a home, and we all let him down.”

Pivot Legal Society has written to the Chief Coroner of the Coroner’s Service of British Columbia requesting that they conduct a formal inquest into Mr. Mickasko’s death. An inquest is a public hearing, with five jury members, where witnesses who have knowledge about a death provide evidence, and the jury makes recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.

In circumstances where someone does not die in police custody, a public inquest is held only if the Coroner’s Service feels that media or public attention, or family concerns necessitate the holding of the hearing.