Richelle Dubois pictured with her two sons before her son Haven (pictured on the left) died last year. Photo courtesy gofundme.com
A Regina mother says there is lot more to the death of her 14-year-old son than what is contained in a coroner’s report.
Richelle Dubois said she does not believe the report was thorough enough. She also said it is filled with contradictions and is based, in part, on rumours and speculation.
Last May, Dubois found her son, Haven, in a creek in east Regina. He was not responsive. Haven was rushed to hospital where he was pronounced dead.
Now, the coroner’s report lists the cause of death as accidental drowning, with drug use as a significant contributing factor.
Dubois is skeptical of the report, saying even though she is the one her found her son in the creek, the coroner did not take a statement from her. She also says he was not found face-down in the water as the report indicates.
Part of the report deals with an anonymous letter from a parent who says there were rumours that Haven, who had not smoked marijuana previously, had a bad reaction to the drug and freaked out.
She is also skeptical that marijuana could have caused her son to demonstrate such irrational behavior causing him to drown in a shallow creek.
Dubois said she does not think police are taking her concerns seriously enough.
“I feel like they are saying, ‘well it’s just another dead Indian,’” she said. “They have already written him off saying ‘drowning and marijuana use was the cause of death.’ How do they know that it (marijuana) wasn’t in his system from the day before?”
Dubois has requested a copy of the police report into the death. She is not sure if she will get it, but said her fight for more information is far from over.
“I am going to do whatever needs to be done. They think I’m going to be satisfied with that and take that, nope,” she said.