As the commission of inquiry into the on-duty death of police officer Maureen Breau takes a break, coroner Géhane Kamel has already heard a number of testimonies that could lead to recommendations in her report.
In the first two weeks of public hearings, about thirty people spoke. Most testified about Isaac Brouillard Lessard, the gunman who stabbed Maureen Breau before dying minutes later from police bullets.
Among important testimony, the coroner specifically heard from all the psychiatrists who had followed Isaac Brouillard Lessard since his hospitalization in the psychiatric unit of Shawinigan Hospital in March 2012, following his first psychosis.
Psychiatrists who followed Isaac Brouillard Lessard after his stay at the Pinel Institute in 2017 testified about the difficulties they had in controlling their patient, especially in terms of non-compliance with the conditions imposed by the Court. Administrative Office of Quebec (TAQ) .
Doctor Marc Tannous, who followed Isaac Brouillard Lessard from his release from the Pinel Institute until February 2022, has repeatedly confirmed that he is not there is no legal leverage to return him to the hospital
according to him.
In order to force Isaac Brouillard Lessard to return to the hospital for treatment, psychiatrists and other stakeholders must represent the subject of the order real and imminent danger
that he has the right to ask the police to return him to a health facility.
Coroner Géhane Kamel presides over the public hearings in Trois-Rivières on the deaths of Maureen de Breau and Isaac Brouillard Lessard. (Photo: February 12, 2024)
Photo: Radio-Canada / Martin Chabot
The patient used cannabis for several years and did not always follow his treatment plan, two factors that were flagrant violations of the conditions TAQ because of the effect of these two behaviors on Isaac Brouillard Lessard’s psychiatric disorders.
Coroner Kamel has repeatedly questioned the ambiguities that prevail in the health system between the obligations of psychiatrists to provide medical monitoring to their patients and the role guardian of behavior
that compliance with orders TAQ.
It was difficult for the parents of the attackers to have their voices heard
Coroner Géhane Kamel repeatedly labeled the parents of Isaac Brouillard Lessard as experts
of their son’s case during the first weeks of the commission of inquiry.
She also repeatedly decried the lack of listening and opportunities for them to change the system when they feared their son was relapsing and would need hospital treatment again for his schizo disorder.
Either at the end of the Intensive Environmental Monitoring (SIM) in December 2022 or even during the weeks leading up to the March 27 tragedy, Isaac Brouillard Lessard’s parents tried countless times to contact psychiatrists, the police and other social workers when they felt their son’s mental state was deteriorating. worsened.
One of the highlights of the commission of inquiry occurred during the eighth day of deliberations. Isaac Brouillard Lessard’s father, mother and uncle had their voices heard.
A recording of a conversation between Sandra Lessard and an investigator from the Bureau of Independent Investigations (BEI) reveals that she fears that take it easy
since she had no tangible evidence that her son was psychotic at the time.
Serge Brouillard, Sandra Lessard and Denis Lessard are members of Isaac Brouillard Lessard’s family.
Photo: Radio-Canada / Raphaël Poliquin
She testified that she was afraid of her son’s condition by saying that I am his mother, I love him regardless of everything that happened and I would not appear there, never
.
Isaac Brouillard Lessard’s father, Serge Brouillard, also testified, and his March 24, 2023 call with the 91 dispatcher was aired.
During the call, he could be heard becoming visibly frustrated by the police’s lack of response. Mr. Brouillard especially laughed, a laugh tinged with frustration, when the dispatcher told him that the agents had reported that his son was all right.
During the commission of inquiry, speakers testified about the interactions they had with the family. They constantly tried to warn psychiatrists, social workers and the police about the danger of their son in a psychotic state.
On the return of the commission on March 11, 2023, several representatives of the police force will testify.