Canada: New Age retreat leader convicted of criminal negligence causing death after a hyperthermia ritual

Proceedings

1. 2014-12-08 · conviction, sentence, and appeal — appeal denied

   Cour du Quebec, Canada (Fabi J.). Chantal Lavigne died of hyperthermia and multi-organ failure during a 'Mourir en conscience' retreat led by Gabrielle Frechette, who charged participants a fee. Participants were smeared with mud and wrapped in blankets and a plastic tarp with their heads enclosed in cardboard boxes in a heated rented farmhouse, and led through hyperventilation breathing exercises. On Dec. 8, 2014, Quebec Court Justice Helene Fabi convicted Frechette, along with assistants Ginette Duclos and Gerald Fontaine, of criminal negligence causing death; Fontaine was also convicted of criminal negligence causing bodily harm to a surviving participant. On Jan. 29, 2016, Frechette was sentenced to three years' imprisonment and Duclos and Fontaine to two years each. The Quebec Court of Appeal denied their appeal, reported January 2018.

Appellate history

1. Appeal of the convictions and sentences denied.

Documented coercion mechanisms

• a paid retreat participant's submission to the facilitator's ritual design: mud, wrapping in blankets and plastic tarp with the head enclosed in a cardboard box, in a heated farmhouse
• directed hyperventilation breathing exercises intensifying heat exposure and disorientation
• assistants' continued administration of the ritual as the participant's condition deteriorated toward multi-organ failure