BURNABY, B.C. — An inquest in Burnaby, B.C., has heard that a Mexican woman who hung herself while awaiting deportation had been kicked out of Canada once before.
Lucia Vega Jimenez died in hospital days after she was found hanging in a Canada Border Services Agency holding cell at Vancouver’s airport in December last year.
Border agent Josie Perri told the coroner’s jury that she knew before arresting Jimenez that the 42-year-old hotel worker had been denied a refugee claim and had been ejected from Canada three years before.
The inquest also heard from the transit officer who called CBSA to check the woman’s identification after she provided two different names that didn’t turn up in police databases.
Both witnesses said the woman told them she was afraid of going back to Mexico because of problems with a boyfriend, and that she appeared visibly upset when arrested.
The jury must make recommendations to prevent similar deaths but it can’t lay any blame.