Brennan Ahenakew-Johnstone was 20-years-old when his remains were found on May 10, 2018. (Facebook)

By Ian Gustafson

closing a chapter

Mother of Brennan Ahenakew-Johnstone finds closure at conclusion of inquest

Aug 26, 2021 | 6:13 PM

After four days of witness testimony during the coroner’s inquest into the death of Brennan Ahenakew-Johnstone in Prince Albert, his mother Lisa Johnstone, says she now has closure.

On Thursday afternoon after reviewing the evidence the jury determined Ahenakew-Johnstone died between 6:30 a.m. and 7:30 a.m. on the Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation on May 10, 2018, from smoke inhalation and burns. He was found dead in his car after a fire one of the experts at the inquest testified had started underneath the vehicle.

The jury came up with four recommendations including the need for more resources for the local RCMP.

Johnstone told media after the conclusion of the inquest that she has accepted the jury’s findings but, despite their decision, Johnstone still believes her son was a victim of foul play.

“Of course I do, I know in my heart I’ve always known in my heart right from the beginning,” she said. “When a mother feels something in her heart, she does everything in her power to help and I believe that he was. Something did happen to him prior to him ending up in that field and that’s evident.”

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However, Johnstone said this inquest doesn’t change the fact her son is no longer here and that she needs to let this go and move forward. It was a very emotional time for Johnstone, and she said she knew what she was up against this week.

“That’s all I ever wanted since the beginning of this was for the public to know the facts and those were presented this week and I appreciate the facts that were presented. And I accept the findings that were given to me today in respect to my son’s cause of death,” she said.

Johnstone didn’t expect the cause of death to change, nor did she hope the case would reopen but said it was more of a closure of a chapter in her life.

“A chapter that I’ve lived for three years, three long dark years I’ve lived in this shadow of my son’s death in trying to find justice and for my voice to be heard in regards to how I feel our people are treated,” she said.

“I know as a mother I’ve done everything in my power on this earth to fight for my son for the last three years.”

The purpose of an inquest is not to lay blame but to determine who, when, where and in which the manner they died. The jury was also required to make recommendations to prevent another situation like this from happening again.

The Jury’s recommendations are as follows:

• To the RCMP, provide more funding for the Shellbrook detachment to supply more staff and vehicles.
• Provide fire protection clothing and equipment in RCMP vehicles to attend fire scenes.
• RCMP should have timely follow up for calls.
• Witnesses and major crime personnel should either bring or review material beforehand in order to answer the inquiries in a timely manner for every inquest.

Johnstone agreed with the recommendations and said she just wanted to be heard because a lot of Indigenous people are not treated that way.

She said Indigenous people are treated as less important because they don’t pay taxes living on reserve. If the same situation happened off reserve, Johnstone said it would have been handled different.

“Had my son been a white kid in Canwood in that community in a car in a bush there would have been a totally different response than what was done for my son on the reserve. And that’s really sad it’s really disheartening that we can’t rely on the RCMP who are there to protect and serve us,” she said.

She said there are no recommendations to prevent a death such as Brennan’s.

“I wanted a recommendation, and it was simple, I recommend that you do your job right. I recommend that you treat us like we’re people,” she added.

This isn’t the end quite yet for Johnstone in her quest to find justice for her son. She explained she has a public investigation into Brennan’s death with the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission filed in 2018, which should wrap up soon. When asked what she hopes will come out of the review her answer was simple: the truth.

“I tell people I like to play chess I don’t like to play checkers,” she said.

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Ian.Gustafson@pattisonmedia.com

On Twitter: @IanGustafson12