Inquest into death of Sask. woman at Battleford hospital begins in July [Video]

A public inquest into the death of a Saskatchewan woman while in RCMP custody is scheduled to begin in July.

Jilissa Nighttraveller (Napachit) was found unresponsive in a bathroom at the Battleford Union Hospital on March 24, 2021, after being transferred there by the North Battleford RCMP, according to a Ministry of Justice news release.

Hospital staff tried to resuscitate 30-year-old Nighttraveller, but they were unsuccessful.

Nighttraveller is remembered by family and friends as a “kind person and loving mother,” an acquaintance Lila Tootoosis wrote in an online obituary.

“I didn’t know her as well but she always gave me and my sister something at Christmas time.”

The Saskatchewan Coroners Service is required to hold an inquest into the death of a person who dies while an inmate in a correctional facility.

The Ministry of Justice did not say at what facility Nighttraveller was being held prior to her death, …