Inquest into 2023 death of Nicole Lafontaine set to begin in Regina
A coroners inquest into the death of Nicole Lafontaine, who fell from a fifth storey window at the Regina YWCA, is set to begin Monday morning.
The inquest will run from August 19 to 23rd at the Royal Hotel located at 4025 Albert Street in Regina.
The inquest will investigate the circumstances of Nicole’s death. A civilian jury will be appointed to hear the evidence, question witnesses and make recommendations to prevent similar deaths in the future.
At around 2:45 a.m. on July 22, 2023, Regina police were called to the YWCA for a report of an injured person.
When they arrived, they discovered Nicole suffering from life-threatening injuries. The 31-year-old was taken to Regina General Hospital but succumbed to her injuries a short time later.
At the time, both Regina police and Saskatchewan’s coroners service deemed that Nicole’s injuries and cause of death were not criminal in nature.
Nicole’s sister Andrea, 32, died at Regina’s YWCA just seven months prior.
At 9 a.m. on Christmas Day 2022, Andrea was discovered slumped over in her bed. Her death was due to a suspected drug poisoning – a bottle of Narcan was found next to her inside her purse.
Valerie Lafontaine, Nicole and Andrea’s mother, told CTV News in September that she believes the YWCA didn’t do enough to ensure her daughters were safe.
“They were both seeking help. They both had active addictions and they should have been checked on,” she said, adding both her daughters were fleeing abusive relationships.
“As far as I’m concerned, the YWCA failed my daughters.”
Valerie believes Nicole was suffering from a drug-induced psychosis at the time of her death as a result of withdrawing from fentanyl.
The inquest’s proceedings are set to begin at 10 a.m. at the Royal Hotel. All subsequent start times will be decided by the presiding coroner, Aaron Fox.
--With files from CTV’s Allison Bamford and Rory MacLean.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
'Buy nothing': PSAC wants federal workers to boycott downtown Ottawa businesses
A union representing federal employees is asking its members to bring their own lunch to work, in an apparent retaliation against downtown Ottawa businesses as new return-to-office protocols begin.
Actions speak louder: What experts are saying about the body language in the U.S. presidential debate
The highly anticipated debate between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump was a heated matchup. Here's what experts who analyzed the exchange had to say.
Jon Bon Jovi helps talk woman down from ledge on Nashville bridge
Rock and Roll Hall of Famer Jon Bon Jovi and a video production assistant persuaded a woman standing on the ledge of a pedestrian bridge in Nashville to come back over the railing to safety.
Inside a Manitoba ghost town, a group of ladies works to keep it alive
Abandoned homes line the streets of Lauder, a town that's now a ghost of what it once was. Yet inside, a small community is thriving.
B.C. family says razor blades found in bag of frozen blueberries
The B.C. parents of an 11-year-old girl said their daughter recently found a package containing razor blades in a bag of Kirkland-brand frozen blueberries.
Langenburg UFO sighting commemorated with silver coin
Perhaps Saskatchewan's most famous encounter with Unidentified Aerial Phenomenon (UAP/UFO) – "The Langenburg Event" is now being immortalized in the form of a collective coin.
Taylor Swift wins at MTV Video Music Awards and Chappell Roan gets medieval
Taylor Swift and Post Malone took home the first award at the 2024 MTV Video Music Awards, for best collaboration, handed to them by Flavor Flav and Olympian Jordan Chiles.
Man, 70, and woman, 71, found shot dead in Montreal apartment, police
Montreal police (SPVM) are investigating after a man, 70, and woman, 71, were killed by gunshot wounds in an apartment.
Tens of thousands in the dark after Hurricane Francine strikes Louisiana with 100 m.p.h. winds
Hurricane Francine struck Louisiana on Wednesday evening as a Category 2 storm that forecasters warned could bring deadly storm surge, widespread flooding and destructive winds on the northern U.S. Gulf Coast.