Day 2 of Lafontaine inquest hears from doctor and YWCA staff

On Day 2 of the inquest into the death of Nicole Lafontaine, the jury heard from several medical professions as well as officials with Regina’s YWCA.

The morning began with questions for the trauma surgeon, Dr. James Holden, who attended to Lafontaine when she arrived at the Regina General Hospital.

Just after 3 a.m., Lafontaine was rushed into the emergency room where trauma staff placed a tracheal tube before beginning chest compressions, defibrillation and administered epinephrine.

This went on for approximately 20 minutes before the 31-year-old was pronounced dead at 3:40 a.m. on July 22nd, 2023.

Dr. Holden went on to say that due to the extent of Lafontaine's injuries, he did not believe she would have survived, even in the event that help had arrived sooner.

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Forensic pathologist, Dr. Andrea Nistor went through Lafontaine's autopsy report which listed her cause of death as multiple blunt force injuries caused by a fall from a height onto a hard surface.

It was noted that only an external examination was performed on Lafontaine, after a full body post mortem CT scan showed substantial trauma which examiners determined to be the cause of death.

Several questions centred around Lafontaine's mental state in the hours leading up to her death, as Lafontaine's roommate recalled her exhibiting concerning behaviour which she compared to “psychosis.”

Dr. Nistor explained that psychosis is a clinical diagnosis, meaning that there would have been no way to assess Lafontaine's mental state in an autopsy setting.

The pathologist did note that there were traces of drugs in Lafontaine’s system.

Throughout the afternoon, employees of the YWCA working at the time of Lafontaine's death answered several questions regarding the events of the evening.

One staff member, Serine Finlayson recalled that upon starting her shift, she was made aware that "Nicole was experiencing psychosis."

"Her roommate was at a loss of what to [do]," Finlayson said.

Finlayson said that she advised her colleague to call the on-call manager, to which she was unsure if the call was ever made.

Additionally, staff recounted that Lafontaine went to the Regina General Hospital before returning to the YWCA downtown.

"She went to the hospital and came back in the evening ... she was okay ... she was calm when I left the floor … it happened very, very fast," said another staff member who was on shift that evening.

Cora Garari, the senior director of women's housing for the YWCA also provided testimony in which she detailed what changes have been made since Lafontaine's passing.

"We got new contracts for our homeless shelters and these contracts are a bit little more beefed up so we have more support for our women now then when Nicole passed,” Garari explained. “We have coordinators, system navigation coordinators, and harm reduction outreach workers and coordinators and they're able to provide that extra support that we weren't able to provide before.”

The goal of the inquest is to provide answers to several questions – including how Lafontaine died and what measures can be taken in the future to prevent similar deaths in the future.