Family grieving after woman dies at Cornwall homeless camp

A Cornwall, Ont., family says they are grieving after a woman died overnight at a homeless encampment in the eastern Ontario city.

According to an email sent by a city official to city councilors, the “elderly” woman was already dead when paramedics arrived at Pointe Maligne Park Sunday morning after receiving a 911 call.

The woman’s son-in-law, Keith Seyeau, identified her to the CBC as Diane Hebert. The time and cause of her death remain unknown.

An undated photo of Diane Hebert. (Diane Hebert/Facebook)

A spokesman for the Cornwall Police Service said on Sunday afternoon they had no updates and were unlikely to comment today.

Seyeau said he and Hebert’s daughter, Kim Legault, live near her in the camp on the city’s east side.

Hebert slept in her own tent, just a few feet away, after joining the couple at camp last summer, Seyeau said.

“All he had to do was say his name and I was there,” he said.

Seyeau said Hebert’s daughter checked on her Sunday morning to find her dead. They were the ones who called an ambulance, he said.

“She was a good woman,” Seyeau said. “He’s worked hard all his life.”

Video made in the tent days before death

In recent years, Hebert has had a “hard purge” of things, Seyeau said. She fell and injured her hip, had mobility issues and was recently in the hospital with pneumonia, he said.

Tina Point, co-founder of the Unity Street Help Association, a local community organization, said she checked on residents and shot a video of Hebert in her tent on Nov. 1.

In the video, which Point shared with CBC, Hebert sits on an inflated air mattress, dressed in polar bear-themed pajamas, with a pair of thick work socks dangling nearby. Several canisters of propane gas and a portable heater can be seen in the tent.

Hebert said he had been at the camp for two weeks.

“It wasn’t that bad (before), but now it’s really cold,” she said.

Diane Hebert was interviewed by Tina Point, co-founder of Unity Street Help, in her tent at a homeless camp in Cornwall, Ont., on Nov. 1, 2023, days before her death. (Tried by Tina Point)

Seyeau said he and Legault live in the camp because it’s hard to find an affordable apartment in Cornwall.

According to the memo to city councilors, Hebert was known to the city’s housing services department and spoke with crisis team members during their regular visits to the camp.

“Several options were offered to this individual,” according to the email, which did not name Hebert. “Although she agreed to be added to (the list of people experiencing homelessness), she chose to remain in the camp.”

“Alternative heating sources” found in the tent will be part of the police investigation and autopsy, the email said.

Hebert’s son-in-law, Keith Seyeau, said he was also staying at the camp with Hebert’s daughter. He called Hebert “a good woman” who “worked hard all her life.” (Camille Kasisi-Monet/Radio-Canada)

“This is a crisis,” says the lawyer

Pointe Maligne Park, whose land is owned by Transport Canada and not the city, is not the only place along the Cornwall coast where people have chosen to stay, Point said.

But it is the newest camp, she added.

“This is a crisis,” she said of Cornwall’s homeless situation. “We are still human, we still breathe and eat and need everything that people with money need.”

In a statement to the CBC, the city said rising housing costs across the country have led to an increase in homelessness and that “unfortunately, Cornwall is not immune to this problem.”

“The city has been closely monitoring the current situation,” he added.