valerie lafontaine placed three photos and an urn in front of herself on monday morning.
the photos were of her daughter nicole lafontaine as an infant, then at age five, and also as a young woman.
in the urn were her ashes.
“she was a beautiful girl,” said lafontaine.
monday marked the first day of an inquest into the
2023 death of nicole lafontaine at regina’s ywca.
inquest coroner aaron fox, a well-known regina-based lawyer with over four decades of experience, said the six-person jury (four women, two men) would include at least three people with first nations ancestry since lafontaine was indigenous.
“three from the general population, three from the indigenous population,” said fox, who estimated that the inquest at royal hotel regina could take three days, though five were booked.
sixteen witnesses have been called.
during monday’s proceedings, fox summarized the lead-up to lafontaine’s death on july 22, 2023.
at the time, lafontaine, 31, had been staying at the ywca for about a week. fox said there was an agreement between the ywca and the ministry of social services to offer shelter to women and mothers experiencing homelessness.
on july 21, lafontaine started acting “somewhat strange,” said fox. her roommate thought she was going into psychosis, trying to open the window in their shared fifth-floor room and “saying something about getting out of it.” the roommate went for help but, by the time they returned, lafontaine had fallen from the window.