Death of Brian Sinclair

In 2017, a group of doctors across Canada claimed that Sinclair died because of racism. The group recommended that federal and provincial governments implement policies to address racism in health care.

In 2014, a report, which concluded that Sinclair's death had been preventable, put forward 63 recommendations to overhaul the front end of Winnipeg's health-care services, including how patients in emergency rooms are triaged and registered.

In 2013, the president of the Winnipeg Regional Health Authority stated, "Mr. Sinclair's death was preventable. He came to us seeking care, and we failed him." The health authority apologized to Sinclair's family and began an inquest into his death.

Brian Sinclair (1963 – September 21, 2008) was an Indigenous Canadian man whose death in a hospital waiting room led to widespread concern on the state of the healthcare system in Canada. On September 21, 2008, Sinclair waited 34 hours for medical attention at Winnipeg's Health Sciences Centre. Sinclair died while he was waiting and had developed rigor mortis when medical staff attended to him.

On September 19, 2008, after not urinating for 24 hours because of a blocked catheter, Sinclair visited a community health clinic who referred him to the Winnipeg Health Sciences Centre.

During the evening of September 19, 2008, the triage list was discarded.

At 1:00 a.m. on September 20, 2008, other patients state they spoke to Sinclair, who had then been waiting for 10 hours. One patient allegedly spoke to medical staff to urge them to attend to Sinclair; medical staff responded that they were attending to other patients. While he was waiting, Sinclair had also vomited several times.

Before 1:00 a.m. on September 21, 2008, a nurse was requested to check on Sinclair. The nurse did not believe that the request was urgent and instead completed paperwork. Shortly afterward, a nurse from another facility approached a security guard and stated she thought that Sinclair was dead, as his neck was "pasty" and his catheter was empty. The security guard attended to Sinclair, pinched his neck, and received no response from him. The security guard then contacted medical staff and informed them that he believed that Sinclair had died. The staff first thought that it was a joke and then moved Sinclair into a resuscitation room, where he was immediately declared deceased.