This is very sad.
The 93-year-old woman who froze to death outside of her Montreal nursing home, apparently after mistakenly heeding a fire alarm from a nearby building, was the mother of former Bloc Quebecois leader Gilles Duceppe.
The coroner’s office is investigating the incident which happened at the Residence Lux Gouverneur between 4 and 5 a.m. on Sunday. The office confirmed to CTV Montreal that the woman was Gilles Duceppe’s mother Helene Rowley.
Montreal police said a fire alarm was set off in a building in the retirement complex, but residents in Rowley’s building did not need to evacuate.
Rowley, who had hearing problems, likely hadn’t understood that she didn’t need to evacuate and exited the building.
But once she made her way outside, she was unable to get back inside because the door was locked, police said. A review of the security footage showed her attempting to re-enter the building, CTV Montreal reports.
