Alcohol addiction? Lack of places in shelters? Anxiety generated by the curfew in the middle of a pandemic? The coroner’s public inquiry into the death of Raphaël “Napa” André, which began Monday morning, will attempt to explain the circumstances of the death of the homeless Innu man, found lifeless in a chemical toilet in January 2021.
“There will always be a certain dark side regarding his death. The information I had at the time remained fragmentary. But it is undeniable to me that this was a vulnerable person. He had no fixed address, while we were in a very dark period in our history,” declared the coroner, Ms.e Stéphanie Gamache Monday morning at the Longueuil courthouse.
At the time of Raphaël Napa André’s death on January 17, 2021, Quebec was under a curfew to slow the spread of COVID-19 during the pandemic.
The 51-year-old Innu, called Napa in his community of Matimekush-Lac John, had probably spent the night in a chemical toilet a stone’s throw from the La Porte Ouverte shelter, in the Milton-Parc sector in Montreal.
The coroner referred to Mr. André’s voluminous medical file during the day. He lived with an alcohol addiction problem and an anxiety disorder. He had also been taken into care the day before his death after falling to the ground while he was intoxicated during a visit to the convenience store.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE FAMILY
Raphael André
The victim was present at the La Porte Ouverte center on the day of his death, indicated detective sergeant at the Montreal City Police Service (SPVM) Alexandre Bertrand in his testimony.
Rapahël Napa André was still there around 7:20 p.m. “A worker remembers seeing the victim sleeping. He didn’t want to leave the center, but the center was closing,” said the police officer. He must have left around 9 p.m.
According to the testimony of the detective sergeant, a worker had called another resource to reserve a place for Mr. André. “He would have refused to take the taxi [pour d’y rendre] “, he explained to Me Gamache.
Not enough resources?
The deceased had been met in the past by a team of health professionals responsible for intensive monitoring of homeless people, one of the witnesses told the coroner.
“There is inevitably a lack of accommodation resources for a multitude of people. There is a lack of transitional housing options after hospitalizations,” said the occupational therapist he consulted, whose identity is protected by a publication ban.
“There was really a lack of resources open 24 hours,” added a worker from the organization La Porte Ouverte, whose identity is also protected.
The center where she worked at the time, also called Open Door, helped around a hundred people every day before COVID struck, the witness said. In December 2020, the location temporarily closed due to a COVID-19 outbreak and plumbing issues.
She had met Raphaël Napa André on several occasions. “He was someone who wanted to be in his bubble. When drunk, he could be aggressive. »
“It looks like he was looking for privacy in that toilet. Intimacy is something difficult to have on the street,” the witness confided.
The hearings will continue until May 24 at the Longueuil courthouse. A second phase will be held from June 3 to 14.