Tank: Saskatoon police leave public puzzled on winter death alerts

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The owner of a long-term care home in Saskatoon’s Fairhaven neighbourhood is perplexed about why Saskatoon police alerted the public this week about the death of a resident.

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Police issued a news release Wednesday about the death of a 96-year-old man outside, noting that foul play was not suspected. Tony Damircheli, who owns the Northern Lights care home, worries the police news release could create misconceptions about the facility.

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The care home resident’s death followed another police alert this week about another death in the Fairhaven neighbourhood, a 19-year-old woman found in a park along Pendygrasse Road. In both cases, police said foul play was not suspected.

In some ways, one can understand why police would release information about these sudden deaths, even though the causes are not yet known. It’s been dangerously cold this week; if bodies are being found outside, there’s a public safety reason for publicizing that.

But if you’re left wondering what threshold has been established for alerting the public about an unexplained death during the winter, you can probably sympathize with Damircheli’s frustration.

“In recent years, we began notifying the public of sudden deaths that occur outdoors, especially in public locations,” Saskatoon police spokeswoman Julie Mireau said in an email. “The (police are) aware of the extreme cold temperatures currently plaguing the province and the risks that come along with that weather.”

Whether that means the public will always be told about all such deaths remains unclear. In the last two years, Saskatoon police have issued just two other news releases similar to the two sent this week, alerting the public to a “sudden death” where “foul play” is not suspected.

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Both alerts were sent in January 2024: A 68-year-old man found in AH Brown Park in the Mayfair neighbourhood and a 52-year-old man discovered in Dutchak Park in Meadowgreen.

But more than two years ago, Saskatoon residents were wondering why the police stayed silent after a man’s body was found outside the City Centre Church in the Riversdale neighbourhood in November 2022.

Former police chief Troy Cooper said at the time that police work with the Saskatchewan Coroners Service to determine the circumstances of deaths before deciding whether releasing information is in the public interest.

Given that standard, the alert about the care home resident this week may prompt more questions, especially since Damircheli said the man fell in the facility’s backyard and paramedics who tried to revive him found there was a ‘do not resuscitate’ order.

Damircheli said he’s concerned that the alert makes his facility look negligent.

It could be months before the cause of death is determined. In the case of the man found in November 2022, the coroner’s office estimated the cause of death would take three to four months to pinpoint.

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Given that timeframe, we would not know whether the current deep freeze resulted in a scourge of deaths until the spring thaw. From that perspective, the more information we get from police, the better — even with the limitations.

We may not know for sure what role the cold played in a death, but we do know the frigid weather can kill right now.

The coroner’s service suggests deaths from hypothermia/exposure are increasing in Saskatchewan, from nine in 2011-12 to 30 in 2021-22 and 31 in 2022-23. Of those 31, 19 happened in urban areas, by far the highest number in the last 18 years. And 26 were linked to intoxication, which is also by far the highest.

Preliminary data shows 19 exposure deaths in 2023-24, but some cases remain open and unclassified.

We also know more people in Saskatoon live vulnerable lives that put them at greater risk, after the October point-in-time homeless count identified 1,499 people.

While Saskatoon Tribal Council Chief Mark Arcand says the woman found dead in the park had not stayed at the Fairhaven homeless shelter nor been in contact with staff, it’s difficult to ignore the proximity to the controversial facility.

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As with all of these deaths in freezing temperatures, we await more information.

Phil Tank is the digital opinion editor at the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

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