1 year after son killed by police in Repentigny, Que., mother struggles with grief and guilt

One year after police in Repentigny, Que., shot and killed her son, Marie-Mireille Bence is still haunted by the sound of gunfire erupting just outside her home — and the decision she made that she believes sealed Jean René Junior Olivier's fate.

"I still feel a burden because I'm the one who called 911," she said, fighting back tears while sitting at her kitchen table.

"I am not well. Every day, I cry. Every day … [For them] to have murdered my son, the way they murdered him, it's really unacceptable."

On Aug. 1, 2021, Bence called police, hoping they would get her son to a hospital because he was in distress. He was holding a knife, and his mother said he seemed to be hallucinating. 

Bence and other family members claim her son eventually dropped the knife. Police officers ended up killing him, firing three bullets into his stomach.

The killing of the 37-year-old man devastated his mother and infuriated members of the small but growing Black community in the suburb located just northeast of Montreal.

For them, the fatal shooting was the worst example yet of Black people being mistreated by police in Repentigny and being seen as intruders in a city that was almost exclusively white as recently as 20 years ago.

With Quebec's police watchdog investigating Olivier's death, Bence has been kept in the dark about what is happening and what could come next.

The Bureau des enquêtes indépendantes (BEI) announced in late May that it had wrapped up its investigation. It's now up to the Crown prosecutor's office to decide if there will be criminal charges against the officers who shot and killed Olivier. In a statement last week, a spokesperson 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 killing her son — but she's not optimistic.

"If I had been outside with my phone in hand and I had filmed what happened, then maybe [I would be more confident]," Bence said.

On Monday at 7 p.m., demonstrators are expected to gather in front of Repentigny city hall for a sit-in meant 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, the president of the Lakay Média group, who is organizing the sit-in. 

"We spoke to a lot of people in the community who are scared to call the police if they have a problem."