N.S. news: Sister of man who died in tent speaks out [Video]

Claudette Desmond says her family is doing the best they can after suffering a heartbreaking loss during the holidays.

She says Halifax police found her 56-year-old brother Jeff Emerson dead inside a tent in Dartmouth, N.S., on Dec. 26.

“Officers came to the house and gave us the bad news that they found (my) brother deceased,” says Desmond. “Then the officer never said any more about what possibly could have happened.”

Halifax Regional Police says officers responded to a call on Geary Street around 4:20 p.m. last Thursday.

Desmond says her brother, who had been homeless since August, dealt with mental illness and substance abuse.

“For Jeff to try to live his own life like you and I would … it was difficult at times,” she says. “He spent two or three weeks here with us, and then he decided to continue to move on, on his own.”

Desmond says …