A year after police in Repentigny, Que., shot and killed her son, Marie-Mireille Bence is still haunted by the sound of gunfire right outside her home — and the decision she made that she believes sealed fate of Jean Rene the Younger Olivier.
“I still feel a burden because I’m the one who called 911,” she said, fighting back tears as she sat at the kitchen table.
“I’m not well. I cry every day. Every day… [For them] to kill my son, the way they killed him, it’s really unacceptable.”
On August 1, 2021, Bence called the police, hoping they would take her son to the hospital because he was in trouble. He was holding a knife and his mother said he appeared to be hallucinating.
Bence and other family members say her son eventually dropped the knife. The police officers eventually killed him, firing three bullets into his stomach.
Marie-Mireille Bens says she has cried every day since the death of her son, seen here in a photo taken in his teenage years. (Charles Contant/CBC)
The 37-year-old’s killing devastated his mother and angered members of the small but growing black community in the suburb northeast of Montreal.
For them, the fatal shooting was the worst example yet of blacks being mistreated by police in Repentini and seen as intruders in a city that was almost exclusively white 20 years ago.
As the Quebec police investigate Olivier’s death, Bence is kept in the dark about what is happening and what may come next.
WATCH | Mother explains difficult year since police killed her son:
1 year after her son was killed by police, a mother explains how she is struggling to cope
Through tears, Marie-Mireille Bench spoke of the grief and pain of losing her son, who was shot dead by police in Repentini in 2021.
The Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI) announced at the end of May that it had concluded its investigation. It is now up to the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether there will be criminal charges against the officers who shot and killed Olivier. In a statement last week, a spokesman for that office said it was still analyzing the case and that no decision had been made.
Bence has spent the last year grieving and waiting, hoping to see someone punished for her son’s murder — but she’s not optimistic.
“If I had been outside with my phone in my hand and filmed what happened, then maybe [I would be more confident]” said Bence.
Protest in front of the town hall
On Monday at 7:00 p.m., demonstrators are expected to gather outside Repentigny City Hall for a sit-in that aims to highlight the work that needs to be done before local police can earn the trust of the black community.
“[The shooting] is an event that really touched people in the community,” said Pierre Richard Thomas, president of the Lakay Média group that organized the sit-in.
“We’ve spoken to a lot of people in the community who are afraid to call the police if they have a problem.”
Jean René Junior Olivier was a few months shy of his 38th birthday at the time of his death. (Submitted by Marie-Mireille Bence)
Allegations of racial profiling against police in Repentigny have piled up in recent years. At least nine complaints have been filed with the province’s human rights commission since 2017. There are at least four known cases in which this commission has ruled against the police.
Last week, the Quebec Human Rights Tribunal, which hears cases from the commission and issues binding decisions, ordered the town of Repentigny to pay $8,000 in compensation to a black man who was racially profiled by police.
Bence said her son, Olivier, has told her several times that he thinks racism is rampant in the local police force. Then she disagreed with him. Now she undoubtedly played a role in his death.
The city declined CBC News’ request for an interview with Repentigny Mayor Nicolas Dufour, who was elected last year, a few months after Olivier’s death.
Instead, it sent a statement highlighting its efforts to tackle racism and racial profiling in policing.
Keyshawn Olivier, the son of Jean Rene Olivier Jr., is seen here outside his grandmother’s home as the family addressed reporters the day after last year’s shooting. (Sarah Leavitt/CBC)
“Our community expects deep and thoughtful changes and community policing that meets its needs. That is why we are following the actions set out in the ‘Growing with our Community’ action plan, the statement said.
Those efforts were recognized by the tribunal’s decision last week. He described the city’s approach as “serious” and said its action plan goes beyond what the human rights commission has recommended in the past.
Last month, the Repentigny Police Department announced that officers will be accompanied by social workers when responding to mental health crises.
The police chief said the plan was hatched before Olivier’s death.
Pierre Richard Thomas, the head of the non-profit group Lakay Média, organized a sit-in demonstration at Repentigny town hall on Monday evening. (Anthony Nerestant/CBC)
“Suffering All Alone”
Bence says her son’s death has made her regret moving from Montreal to Repentigny about a decade ago and considering leaving the suburb for good.
Over the past year, she has appeared at several public events organized by local anti-racism groups. It means constantly thinking and reliving what happened. But she worries that if she doesn’t speak up, her son will be forgotten.
Last year’s fatal shooting happened on Rue de Niagara, just steps from Marie-Mireille Benz’s home. She called the police and asked them to take her son to the hospital because he was in trouble. (Charles Contant/CBC)
“My son was killed and gone forever. But what I would like is for this to never happen again in our community. Because the way I suffer, I don’t want another parent to go through what I have,’ she said.
“The policemen who shot my son, who killed him, I don’t know their names. They are home now. I’m sure they still work. Meanwhile, I suffer. I suffer all alone.”
For more stories about the experiences of black Canadians – from anti-black racism to success stories in the black community – see Being Black in Canada, a CBC project that black Canadians can be proud of. You can read more stories here.
(CBC)
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