Gone, but Not Forgotten: The Agnotological Necropolitics of Inquest Fatality Reports

When an unusual or extraordinary death occurs in Manitoba, or in another jurisdiction involving a Manitoba resident, the law provides a mechanism for investigation. There are several stages to such inquiries, the ultimate one being an inquest. Our goal in this chapter is to explore the link between agnosis and inquest findings, and to explicate a larger picture of these interconnections. We endeavour to engage in a multidisciplinary discussion, drawing upon critical disability studies and necropolitics to connect inquest findings to what we refer to as ‘agnotological necropolitics’. If necropolitics is the use of social, political, and legal power to dictate how some people may live (and be valued) and how others may die (and be unvalued) (Mbembe in Public Culture 15(1):11–40, 2003), agnotological necropolitics expands this understanding to explore interweaving aspects of social, political, and legal power that dictate how some people are remembered and how others may be forgotten. Recognizing the prevalence of disability in Manitoba’s death inquests is unquestionably high (Ireland et al. in Law and Disability in Canada: Cases and Materials, LexisNexis, Toronto, 2021a, 2021b), we call for widespread systemic change to recognizing the role of disability in the tragic consequences of inquest.