Family of Indigenous woman reassured her death was an accident, say Charlottetown Police
Steve Bruce | CBC News | Posted: February 27, 2018 9:58 PM | Last Updated: February 27, 2018
Police share details of Mary Francis Paul's death with family, 41 years after her body was found
Charlottetown Police say the family of an Indigenous woman found dead 41 years ago has been reassured her death was "nothing short of a tragic accident."
On Friday, police met with members of Mary Francis Paul's family at the scene of her death on Water Street in Charlottetown, and shared details of the autopsy report from 1977.
Deputy Chief Brad MacConnell arranged the meeting, two weeks after Paul's daughter Barbara Bernard told the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, that the family has for decades had questions about how her mother died, and how police handled the investigation.
"It was certainly a tragedy with no foul play involved," said MacConnell. "And if anything was accomplished at our meeting Friday, it's that we were able to reassure the Bernard family of that."
'No signs of external trauma'
Bernard told the inquiry that after her mother's death, the family was told she had fallen and broken her neck.
Twelve years later, when she went looking for more information, Bernard said an officer told her her mother's body was found stuffed inside a metal drum.
MacConnell said neither of those details are true, and that he's not sure how that information was relayed to Bernard.
The deputy chief said according to the autopsy report, Paul's body was found laying in a window well, at the back of a building on Water Street, which was regularly used as a secluded hangout spot.
MacConnell said the coroner ruled Paul's death was caused by a combination of "acute alcoholism, aspiration, and exposure."
"There's no signs of any external trauma," said MacConnell. "So what it's believed happened at the time is Mrs. Paul was probably sitting on this window well, and due to her intoxication level, had fallen backwards [into the window well]."
Investigation handled properly, says deputy chief
The deputy chief said Paul's body was discovered the morning after her death.
While there's no longer a file detailing the investigation that took place following the discovery, MacConnell said one of the now retired officers, who was one of the first on the scene 41 years ago, also met with the family Friday.
Based on the officers' recount of the investigation, the deputy chief said he's confident the case was handled properly and that Paul's death was not suspicious.
"Nothing is 100 per cent certain," said MacConnell. "But I don't think it's proper for me to question the professionals at the time, and the medical evidence which is irrefutable."
The deputy chief said if there's anything police should take away from this case, it's the need to communicate properly with victims' families.
"Why we ended up in a meeting with the Bernard family is that they were never given accurate information," said MacConnell. "I would hope that if that happened today, we would certainly make every effort we could to make sure all family members were informed to the circumstances."
CBC reached out to the Bernard family for comment. In an email, Barbara Bernard declined to do an interview, saying she wanted police to speak on the family's behalf.
She did say in the email she felt "okay" about the outcome of Friday's meeting with police.
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