The following story contains details which some readers may find distressing. Rapid access counselling is available in the Yukon from Mental Wellness and Substance Use Services by calling 867-456-3838. Additional support includes the Suicide Crisis Helpline (call or text 988), Hope for Wellness (1-855-242-3310) and the 24-Hour Residential School Survivor Crisis Line (1-866-925-4419). The Selkirk First Nation, the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation and the Vuntut Gwitchin Government are offering counselling and support specifically for their citizens.
The coroner’s inquest into the deaths of four Yukon Indigenous women at the Whitehorse Emergency Shelter entered its second week on April 15.
On that day, the focus of the inquest turned from Josephine Elizabeth Hager’s death to the final hours of Darla Skookum’s life. Both women passed away at the shelter in the first half of 2023 — Hager at the age of 38 and Skookum at age 51.
In the morning, jurors heard from a primary care paramedic who was called to the emergency shelter on Feb. 1, 2023, the day of Hager’s death. He told the inquest that CPR was being performed on Hager by members of the RCMP and possibly the Whitehorse Fire Department when he arrived on the scene.
The paramedic was asked about the ambulance call report (a report that typically contains information about a medical-related 911 call and the person being treated) that was completed about Hager’s death. The report, under incident history, notes that Hager likely experienced a heroin overdose.
“That information, while not detailed in the report, would have been provided from reliable sources on the call … I believe, in this case, it was an RCMP member who had initiated CPR and had given me the information that was provided to them either by shelter staff or bystanders, associates (or) friends of Ms. Hager that heroin use was suspected and was something that she had partaken in previously,” the paramedic said.
The paramedic told the inquest that he did not observe Hager having a pulse or breathing when he arrived at the shelter and that her skin complexion was “ashen.” He additionally noted that Hager’s pupils were unmoving, her jaw was rigid and her lips were blue.
When asked by one of the inquest’s legal counsellors if Hager was displaying any signs of life, the paramedic said, “There were never any signs of life from Ms. Hager.”
In response to a question about why the paramedic decided to transport Hager to the hospital, he responded that he “felt she deserved to be transported so the hospital could try and have any interventions that might have been unable to be provided by myself and my partner.”
Following the paramedic’s testimony, a representative from Skookum’s family read a statement about her life. Skookum was reported dead at the Whitehorse Emergency Shelter on the morning of April 16, 2023.
“Darla loved life and treated everyone with respect and kindness no matter who they were. She loved everyone. She would give her last money to someone in need. Darla had lots of love to give,” the family representative stated.
The family’s statement mentioned Skookum’s enjoyment of a traditional lifestyle, her knowledge of preparing fish and wild game and her positive outlook on life.
“You deserved better than what life threw at you. Always, we will cherish you,” the statement read.
An RCMP officer who responded on the morning of Skookum’s death testified about responding to the call.
The officer, Const. Derek Kirstein, was also the lead investigator into Skookum’s passing and was the one who reviewed the surveillance footage captured inside the shelter on the night of her death.
He testified that when he arrived on the scene, Skookum was on her back in the shelter’s overflow sleeping area with her shirt cut open due to medical intervention.
Kirstein walked jurors and inquest spectators through the hours of surveillance footage captured at the shelter the night Skookum died. In the footage, which was often played sped up due to its length, Skookum can be seen being transported from a lounge area to an overflow sleeping area in a wheelchair at approximately 9:45 p.m., April 15, 2023.
One of the surveillance videos aired shows Skookum being transferred from the wheelchair to a mattress on the floor in the sleeping room.
She is placed on her stomach on the mattress, where she remains — seemingly unmoving — until the following morning. It appears that Skookum’s face is in her pillow for most — if not all — of the approximately 12 hours of footage captured overnight in the overflow sleeping area.
“Once they place Ms. Skookum down on her stomach, she doesn’t move again … you don’t see Ms. Skookum move at any point in any of the videos,” Kirstein told the inquest while the videos were being shown.
The footage shows shelter staff coming and going from the overflow sleeping room throughout the night, although none check on Skookum. It also shows Skookum being discovered unresponsive by shelter staff slightly before 10:10 a.m., April 16, 2023.
An on-site paramedic responds to the situation shortly thereafter.
The coroner’s inquest began on April 8 and is anticipated to last three weeks. The inquest is also looking into the deaths of Cassandra Warville, 35, and Myranda Aleisha Dawn Tizya-Charlie, 34, who both died at the shelter on Jan. 19, 2022.
Contact Matthew Bossons at matthew.bossons@yukon-news.com.