Socialist Action joined hundreds at a rally demanding justice for Regis Korchinski-Paquet, May 24 outside the Ontario Legislature. See the photos attached below. CBC provided the following report:
“The protest on Monday marked nearly one year since Regis Korchinski-Paquet fell to her death from a 24th floor apartment balcony last spring while police were in her home.
The memorial, news conference and march took place in honour of Korchinski-Paquet, 29, who died on May 27, 2020.
Speakers at a news conference denounced Ontario’s Special Investigations Unit for clearing five police officers of wrongdoing in her death. The unit investigates the conduct of police that may have resulted in death, serious injury, assault or the discharge of a firearm.
“Regis has not had any justice,” Beverly Bain, a member of No Pride in Policing Coalition, told reporters.
“It’s really critical for people to be gathering today to remember Regis, but also to mark that after one year there has not been any accountability, any responsibility taken by the Toronto Police Service for the death of Regis,” she added.
“According to her lawyers, according to the alternative investigations that were done, it’s pretty clear that there is suspicion here, that the police did not do their job. If anything, the police endangered her. There was a lack of care.”
Jason Bogle, a lawyer for the family of Regis Korchinski-Paquet, told people at the memorial that the family alleges there was police misconduct.
“We recognize that there is something has gone horribly wrong on May 27, 2020. As counsel for the family, we are looking for those answers. We have come forward and we have asked the SIU to reopen their case. They have said no,” he said.
Bogle said there is an ongoing investigation into the conduct of the police handling of the call by the Office of the Independent Police Review Director (OIPRD). He noted that Regis’s cell phone has never been returned to her family.
“We are all here now, a year later, looking for answers because we have yet to get those answers,” he said.”
