{"id":818445,"date":"2026-07-22T11:08:17","date_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:08:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/818445\/"},"modified":"2026-07-22T11:08:17","modified_gmt":"2026-07-22T11:08:17","slug":"inquest-set-for-haida-elder-who-died-in-surrey-rcmp-involved-incident","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/818445\/","title":{"rendered":"Inquest set for Haida Elder who died in Surrey RCMP-involved incident"},"content":{"rendered":"

Inquest set for Haida Elder who died in Surrey RCMP-involved incident<\/p>\n

Published 2:00 pm Tuesday, July 21, 2026<\/p>\n

A coroner\u2019s inquest into the April 2022 death of a Haida Elder \u201cfollowing events involving the Surrey RCMP detachment\u201d is set to get underway Monday (July 27) in Burnaby.<\/p>\n

According to a B.C. government news release, Jimmie Johannesson\u2019s death was reported to the BC Coroners\u2019 Service on April 8, 2022. Under the Coroners Act, inquests are mandatory for any deaths that occur while a person was detained by or in the custody of a peace officer.<\/p>\n

The news release does not share details of what transpired on the date in question, however, according to information posted to the BC Civil Liberties Association website (bccla.org<\/a>) on the five-month anniversary of Johannesson\u2019s death, Surrey RCMP officers and members of the Lower Mainland Emergency Response Team surrounded the 61-year-old\u2019s home \u2013 reportedly on 108 Avenue near 132A Street \u2013 after he called police around 10 a.m. out of concern that he was a danger to himself.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe RCMP\u2019s lack of training around mental health, de-escalation and safe disarming techniques then saw them opening fire in his home where he was shot in the arm, leg, and twice in the heart,\u201d it continues.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat began as a desperate cry for help ended in a senseless tragedy at the hands of the state when Jimmie was pronounced dead at the hospital.\u201d<\/p>\n

A report by the Independent Investigations Office<\/a> regarding an incident in Surrey that does not identify Johannesson as the deceased but matches the date and time of the incident described on the BCCLA site, found one officer\u2019s use of lethal force justified \u201cin the circumstances,\u201d and that the approach taken by police \u201ccannot be said\u2026 was unreasonable.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSimply put, there was no time for (the officer) to react in any other manner without risking being hurt or killed,\u201d the report states.<\/p>\n

The BCCLA site notes five policing changes that Johannesson\u2019s sister Ruby Marks called for in the months following her brother\u2019s death, including the elimination of police officer involvement in wellness checks, and the appointment of an Indigenous Civilian Monitor (or board of monitors) \u201cto oversee each investigation where an Indigenous person is identified as a victim or affected party in an incident of death, serious harm, or reportable injury.\u201d <\/p>\n

Inquests are non-fault-finding public inquiries, aiming to: determine the facts related to a death; make recommendations, where appropriate, to prevent future deaths in similar circumstances; and ensure public confidence that the circumstances surrounding the death of an individual will not be overlooked, concealed or ignored.<\/p>\n

Coroner Kirsten Everett and a jury will hear from witnesses under oath to determine the facts surrounding Johannesson\u2019s death. The jury cannot make any finding of legal responsibility or express any conclusion of law.<\/p>\n

The inquest is to get underway at 9:30 a.m. Monday at the Burnaby Coroners\u2019 Court, in Metrotown.<\/p>\n

For those who cannot attend in person but wish to view the proceedings, the livestream will be available on the Coroners Service\u2019s website<\/a> (www2.gov.bc.ca) every hearing day, starting on July 27.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Inquest set for Haida Elder who died in Surrey RCMP-involved incident Published 2:00 pm Tuesday, July 21, 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":818446,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194299],"tags":[49,48,87674],"class_list":["post-818445","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-surrey","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-surrey"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818445","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=818445"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/818445\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/818446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=818445"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=818445"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=818445"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}