Prince Albert woman found in burnt car remembered as kind-hearted mother of 3
CBC
Cecelia Lachance fought to hold back tears as she talked about her 36-year-old first cousin, whose body was found in a burnt vehicle in Prince Albert last week — a woman Lachance says was more like a sister to her.
Several family members, including Lachance, have identified Marcella Grace Melissa Rabbitskin, who went by Melissa, as the woman found in a burning vehicle last Sunday.
Police in the Saskatchewan city were called to the vehicle fire on the 1200 block of 17th Street W. around 9 a.m. When the fire was extinguished they found the body of a woman with distinctive pink high-top Nike Flight shoes. Her identity was later confirmed by an autopsy.
When Lachance heard about the shoes and the description, she didn't think anything of it until a couple of days later, when she heard the news from Rabbitskin's brother. Lachance gave the phone to her husband because she couldn't speak.
"Melissa was a very kind-hearted person who never had [anything] against anybody," she said.
"She showed her love, she gave her love to a lot of people, especially her children. She was a very good mom."
Lachance said Rabbitskin was from Big River First Nation, in northwestern Saskatchewan, but lived in Prince Albert. She leaves behind three kids.
The Prince Albert Police Service's forensic and criminal investigation units continue to investigate her death, police said in a Wednesday news release.
Lachance is convinced Rabbitskin's death was a homicide.
As she talked about her cousin's big heart and kind nature, her voice broke into tears.
"They took her life, I don't know who," she said, taking a deep breath before continuing.
"It's hard to say why anybody would do something like that to her and I think it's because of the drugs," she said.
"She was a very good person and now she's gone."
Lachance said while Rabbitskin was a wonderful person, she had fallen into drugs after the deaths of her biological sister and her mother. That pushed her over the edge and Rabbitskin turned to substances to ease the pain, said Lachance.
The new owner of Ontario steelmaker Stelco says his company "will not disappoint the people of Hamilton and Nanticoke," where the business's major facilities are based.
A Winnipegger is warning others about an intricate scam she says she almost fell for.
Fort William First Nation is opposing a planned redevelopment of the Ontario Power Generation's (OPG) 117 year old Kakabeka Falls Generating Station, which is located in their traditional territory.
A building that sits at the corner of Sussex Street and Brunswick Avenue has had many lives over the last century — being a church, a school and offices. Now it's set to become housing, at a time when the city sorely needs it.
A Waterloo, Ont., elementary school principal will be sentenced in the new year after pleading guilty to child sexual exploitation charges following a joint investigation that involved the London, Toronto and Waterloo police services.
Students at UPEI have let their student union know what they want from the province this fiscal year, and those priorities are reflected in a 2024-2025 advocacy document brought to the legislature on Wednesday.
Larger communities in the N.W.T. will soon see a boost in their territorial funding to maintain infrastructure and deliver services — like water and waste management — but the increase still falls short of what communities need.
The toxic drug crisis has taken more than 47,000 lives in Canada since 2016 and the synthetic opioid fentanyl has become a household name. But now, what's believed to be an even more potent class of synthetic drugs is showing up in drug busts across the country: nitazenes.
The Liberal government and the NDP have agreed to introduce a two-month GST vacation on certain items before the holiday season, Radio-Canada has learned.
Veterinarians are warning Londoners to make sure their dogs are vaccinated and keeping clean after a deadly virus outbreak was declared in London this week.
Registered nurses rallied in St. John's Wednesday as part of a week-long convention, again calling on the Newfoundland and Labrador government to create permanent solutions to staff shortages and workplace violence.