After a nearly 7 year fight for answers, Soleiman Faqiri's family hosts a final vigil

After a coroner's inquest ruled Soleiman Faqiri's 2016 death at the hands of Ontario jail guards was a homicide, his family hopes to use a Saturday evening vigil to move forward from the nearly seven years they spent fighting for the truth. 

Held at Toronto's Yonge-Dundas square Saturday, the seventh annual vigil for Soleiman will be the last, said his brother, Yusuf Faqiri. 

Soleiman died shackled, pepper sprayed and covered with a spit hood while face down on a cell floor in the Central East Correctional Centre in Lindsay, Ont. He was also repeatedly struck by guards, who carried out 60 policy breaches in his death, as revealed during the inquest.  

The homicide verdict reached by the inquest jury, which carries no legal consequence, is one Faqiri's family has been waiting years to hear.

"[The vigil] is an opportunity to, in many ways, close this chapter, to move forward in some ways. In the sense that, here we are, we fought, we got to the truth," Yusuf said. 

Now that the search for answers has achieved some results, Yusuf says they're looking for criminal charges to be laid and recommendations from the inquest implemented. Despite the fact that the verdict bears no criminal liability, police can reopen their investigation into the case based on what the jury heard. 

In an email to CBC Toronto, the Ontario Provincial Police said it would be too early to comment on the investigation or speculate on potential outcomes from the inquest recommendations.

The Ontario Public Service Employees Union, which represents correctional and health-care staff in jails, said Soleiman's death should not have been ruled a homicide and was accidental.

The jury provided 57 recommendations meant to prevent similar deaths in custody, including steps to ensure anyone suffering from a mental health crisis in custody is taken to hospital for assessment and treatment. 

Born in 1986, Soleiman came to Canada from Afghanistan when he was eight. In high school, he was captain of the rugby team and a straight-A student, which led him to enrol the University of Waterloo in 2005. Then, he got in a car crash at 19 and was diagnosed with schizophrenia not long after. He couldn't continue with school and  was picked up several times under Ontario's Mental Health Act.

Soleiman suffered from schizoaffective disorder — a combination of schizophrenic and bipolar symptoms. He was taken into custody on Dec. 4, 2016 after allegedly stabbing a neighbour during what his family has said was a psychotic episode. At the time of his death at the Central East Correctional Centre, he was awaiting a medical evaluation at the Ontario Shores Centre for Mental Health Sciences. 

That assessment never happened and he died less than two weeks later.

"We have an opportunity here," said Yusuf. "We have an opportunity to really turn a page and to transform corrections. Because if we don't, and if these recommendations are not implemented, then we will have other tragedies. Mark my word." 

WATCH | What we learned at the inquest into Soleiman Faqiri's death: