Carey Rigby-Wilcox is still haunted by the last time she spoke to her son.
“He said, ‘Mom, I can’t take it, I can’t deal with this anymore,’” she told Global News.
“And then he put the gun in the air and shot it twice, and said, ‘this is real.’”
Rigby-Wilcox was speaking to her son on Dec. 22, 2018, shortly before he was killed in a confrontation with Saskatoon police.
It was two days after he was released from the Dubé Centre for Mental Health.
More than a year later, she said she still doesn’t know how exactly her son died.
She said the police haven’t given her any information, so she was waiting for an inquest from the Saskatchewan Coroners Service to be completed.
Last week she received a letter telling her the government was delaying the investigation.
Rigby-Wilcox received a letter from Saskatchewan Justice Minister Don Morgan, which she showed to Global News, in which the minister wrote “Clive Weighill, the Chief Coroner for the province of Saskatchewan … assures me an inquest will be held later this year or early 2021.”
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The letter states Weighill hoped to have the inquest completed by late 2020.
In a statement, a spokesperson for the government said the inquest had been delayed because of COVID-19.
A spokesperson for the Saskatoon Police said they know it is a “very trying delay for Mr. Rigby’s family and for all those who wish to participate in the inquest process.”
Rigby-Wilcox said she understands the need to delay because of COVID-19 but added she is convinced the inquest will now take much longer to complete, because other inquests have lasted several years.
She said she hoped the government would finish the inquest as soon as possible so the errors that caused the health care system to fail her son would not be repeated for others.
“If we could do this faster and get the answers and figure out the problems and solve them and make the solutions and see gaps… and see the problems that were in his medical files… we could help other people immediately,” she said.
She told Global News her last conversation with Steven took place while he was sitting in a car, which he later drove into the city before the confrontation with police.
She said he had mentioned committing “death by cop”— where someone is so aggressive and threatening they force a police officer to kill them in self-defence — but doesn’t know if he died by suicide or was shot by police.
She also said she tried to film the meeting on her phone to show that her son was suicidal because, despite Steven telling people he was suicidal and making several attempts to kill himself, she said no one ever believed he was willing to end his own life.
She told Global News he had made several attempts in the months prior to his death and had been hospitalized on different occasions.
Documents Rigby-Wilcox gave to Global News show he was admitted to the emergency department of Battleford Union Hospital on Aug. 30, 2018, because he attempted suicide or had a clear suicide plan.
On a suicide risk assessment form, Steven said, “if I had a weapon right now I would use it.”
His mother said he was released 45 minutes after providing that answer.
Rigby-Wilcox said he was released the next day without her being told.
He was 27 years old and didn’t need parental permission to leave, but Rigby-Wilcox said staff knew she and her husband were supportive of his care and were kept up to date.
She said she hopes the findings of the inquest can explain why he was repeatedly released from mental care facilities when he had expressed suicidal intent, that parents can be included in care plans when someone consents and that more information on prescriptions, among other issues.
“We want accountability and change in the health care system,” she said.
If you or someone you know is in crisis and needs help, please reach out. Resources are available. In case of an emergency, please call 911 for immediate help.
The Canadian Association for Suicide Prevention, Depression Hurts and Kids Help Phone 1-800-668-6868 all offer ways of getting help if you, or someone you know, may be suffering from mental health issues.
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