Protesters confront officials at council meeting

Family and friends of Cassity Delvenne questioned Brandon’s police chief and council members at the end of Monday’s city council meeting.

Roughly 10 protesters yelled at councillors, played drums and told off city officials, many of whom packed their bags and left as the regular council meeting came to a close.

Crystal Delvenne, Cassity’s mother, said going to Monday’s evening meeting was important to spread awareness about the way the investigation into her daughter’s death was handled.

“I wanted accountability. I want transparency, and I’m not getting that,” she told the Sun on Tuesday.

Cassity, who was 24 and had a five-year-old daughter, was pursuing a psychology degree at Brandon University before she died on June 21.

The cause of her death is undetermined, and police are awaiting toxicology results from the chief medical examiner.

Delvenne was arrested on June 12 after Brandon Police Service received a report of a driver speeding and swerving into oncoming traffic.

During the arrest, police say Cassity became “combative” and force was used to subdue her. Her mother said she sustained a chipped tooth, bruised ribs and other injuries. She was charged with impaired driving, resisting arrest and failing to provide a breath sample.

Nine days later, Cassity was found unconscious and not breathing in her apartment, and was pronounced dead.

Crystal previously said that she believes the police mishandled evidence into the investigation of her daughter’s death.

Manitoba’s Independent Investigation Unit said it won’t investigate BPS’s use of force against Cassity.

“This shouldn’t be happening to people. This shouldn’t be happening to women, this shouldn’t be happening to kids,” Crystal said Tuesday.

“This has been happening for so long, and people were scared to come forward and confront the Brandon police or say anything,” she said. “They just, for years, just let it happen, and now they’re starting to stand up because I spoke up. So their voices are getting stronger.”

Crystal said she’s also frustrated by how BPS hasn’t responded to her concerns, both over the summer and on Monday.

As protesters hurled questions at Bates during Monday’s council meeting, the police chief packed up his stuff and said “meeting’s adjourned” before heading out the door.

The rest of the demonstration and aftermath, Crystal said, was positive.

After most people had left, Mayor Jeff Fawcett, Coun. Shaun Cameron (Ward 4) and elder Debbie Huntinghawk joined the protesters for a talk about their concerns.

Crystal said she explained the situation in detail to Fawcett, and that he was “compassionate” and “sympathetic.”

“He took the time to sit with us, and I think he realizes where there needs to be some things changed at the Brandon police station. I think he realizes that.”

Fawcett told the Sun Tuesday afternoon that the conversation, which took place away from city hall, mainly revolved around hearing what the protesters had to say and what next steps look like.

“A lot of it was we were trying to show empathy for a person that’s lost a child, trying to stress that we do support our (police) chief. We do support our police force. We want to hold ourselves to the highest standards, and we are making sure that we are going through due diligence in our processes,” Fawcett said.

He added that the city is continuing to look at different ways to make sure police are performing at the highest level. Coincidentally, on Monday, council approved a staff recommendation to hire accounting firm MNP to do an evaluation of the city’s police recruitment program.

“I know Chief Bates is doing everything he can, and same with the team. We hold them to a high standard, and our teams know that. But it is a very unfortunate situation,” Fawcett said.

“So we just had a good human discussion.”

A spokesperson for Bates said he had “no comment to provide.”

» alambert@brandonsun.com