Posted on January 23, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.
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“I am in Quebec and I sleep outside. I am in pain. ”
These words strummed on a keyboard in a hurry by fingers that we guess frozen are those of Raphael André, found dead this week in a portable toilet in downtown Montreal. The message is a few years old.
“He also wrote posts like that on Facebook. He asked me to stay with us in Sept-Îles. I’m too ashamed to say this publicly, but I said no. I have two sick people at home… ”says her distant cousin.
“He was really a good and respectful man. His problem was alcohol. ”
L’homicide
In the summer of 2018, he stopped by his cousin in Sept-Îles. “He sounded disheartened. He would have liked that, to find accommodation. He tried to get out of it, he went to school for a while, ”the woman continues. His story is punctuated by long silences.
Nothing ever worked.
Another silence that stretches. “At 18, he killed his brother-in-law. It’s sad. ”
The tragedy occurred on February 29, 1988. A conflict broke out between Raphael and other young people on the Schefferville reserve. A 21-year-old man intervenes in the argument. He died during the conflict, under nebulous circumstances. The young Raphael André pleads guilty quickly to the charge of manslaughter.
“A drinking quibble,” continues his cousin, who has seen several.
The young adult’s plans crumbled, stuck in the cycle of substance abuse and washed away by seven years of incarceration. Between 18 and 25 years old, he was detained at the Sept-Îles penitentiary. By the time the young people around him were finding jobs and thinking about starting a family, he was behind bars.
“He left in life with less luck than others,” explains Michel Savard, the lawyer who represented him at the time.
Especially at that time, it was easy to get hold of alcohol very young. There were a lot less services. He was not very lucky.
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Michel Savard, former lawyer of Raphael André
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Me Savard remembers a man of few words, calm and silent. A 6ft, 200lb beefy guy.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE FAMILY
Raphael Andre
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He recognized his former client in the newspapers with a pang of heart. “It didn’t surprise me to read that he feared a traffic ticket the night he died. He was someone who fled confrontations. He is not someone who was going to face perilous situations. I can’t testify to police violence because I don’t know. ”
“I can’t believe he’s passed away”
A native of Matimekush-Lac John, an Innu community of Schefferville 500 km from Sept-Îles, Raphael André lived with an addiction problem. But surrounded by his nieces and nephews, he was becoming himself again. They only have sweet words for the deceased.
“He looked after my twins when my boyfriend went to work. I went to school during a session here in Sept-Îles, ”recalls his niece Pamela Vollant. She was able to complete her studies in peace.
“He has already lived in Montreal for several years at different times. He has not always been itinerant. He sometimes went down to Schefferville to see his family. Of course, he had substance abuse issues, but he was a good, kind person who spoke to everyone. I can’t believe he’s passed away, ”she describes with emotion.
When Press Joined her Thursday evening, preparations for the funeral were going well. “We are Catholics. It is customary to give a lantern to each person in remembrance of the deceased person and is usually displayed directly in the family home. A community ceremony will follow the funeral at the church in Matimekush, the Innu village, ”continues Pamela Vollant.
The family had heard little from Raphael for two years. Just enough to know that Napa was a frequent visitor to St. Joseph’s Oratory, his favorite spot. After his visits, he wandered around admiring the opulent mansions of the area.
His father, Daniel André – a well-known hunter in the community – often sent him money and traditional food. Caribou and snow partridge. “He was very proud of his father, because when the Innu settled down, some lost the art of hunting,” explains Pamela Vollant.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE FAMILY
Raphael Andre
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Rodrigue André remembers the excursions with his uncle Napa. The nickname comes from Napaien, the first name “Raphael” pronounced in Innu.
I was 12 years old. He taught me to fish with a can, without a fishing rod. It was really a beautiful day. This is what matters.
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Rodrigue André
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Last August, Raphael worried about his mother then hospitalized. “Can you bring some snacks to let [maman] ? Yogurt, juice, muffins. At the hospital, they don’t provide, ”he asks his nephew.
Tense relationship with the police
His relationship with the police will be strained throughout his life. “It’s difficult to get back into society. They are always after me. Yet I have been in prison. I’ve had my time, ”Raphael said to his distant cousin.
One evening, things get out of hand. Particularly tipsy, he would have come across agents in his hometown. Eyes meet and we would have come to fists, says a person present shortly after the event who prefers to remain anonymous for fear of reprisals from the police.
“He was pretty much smacked in the face that night. [Il] was afraid [depuis ce temps-là]. »
The shelter
The La Porte Open refuge was closed when Raphael died a stone’s throw from the place. John Tessier, a worker at the Montreal shelter, is still sad when he thinks about it “because he would not have died if we had been able to welcome him”.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
The open door refuge
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Raphael’s past doesn’t change his gaze at all. He would call the ambulance when needed when the alcohol took over. “Does a firefighter look at a fire wondering how the fire came about? No. He just puts out the fire. ”
The injustice that afflicts the indigenous homeless makes him indignant. Some fear the police, others avoid shelters where they feel discriminated against. “I think that’s it, systemic racism. I am on the ground. I see it, what it is to be in the street and native ”, he explains in a long monologue.
PHOTO ROBERT SKINNER, LA PRESSE
Homeless people gathered on Tuesday near the La Porte Open refuge, not far from where Raphael André died, on the night of Saturday to Sunday.
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At a press briefing on Wednesday, Prime Minister François Legault said he was “touched like everyone else” by the death of Raphael André. “I mean, it’s not normal, in a wealthy society like ours, for someone to die in a chemical toilet,” lamented the Prime Minister. […] And I want to take this opportunity once again to offer my condolences to the family, but also to the entire Innu community, which is sometimes there … then we have already submitted an action plan, there, where there is. work to be done so that they are treated the same as all citizens. ”
Near the refuge the day before, a woman had spoken gruffly. ” We are here street family by Raphael. It wasn’t easy for him, ”she said, her lips chapped by the recent cold. Yes, he was drinking. Sometimes got angry. Insulted people, argued with them. Despite everything, she preferred to remember his jokes and his kindness.
Night misery
The intersection of avenue du Parc and rue Milton, where Raphael died, is something to put off even city lovers. The corner has deteriorated for a few years. Thursday night, an Uber delivery boy was moving on the sidewalk between the scent of Molson and a puddle of brownish vomit that formed a foul, slimy circle in the fluffy snow.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
The intersection of avenue du Parc and rue Milton
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Few people roam outside when the curfew is in effect. But there is. Some walk around muttering that they know where to go. Others, like Jessie, ask rare passers-by for money. It’s 9:30 p.m. “There are evenings when I sleep inside, but other nights when I don’t know where to go,” he said, confused.
Further on, a handful of dilapidated tents in front of the downtown La Baie store. The occupants refuse to stay in a shelter. The hellish noise of a snow removal truck covers the moans of a drunken man vomiting on the ground.
The following
January 17. Lizzie Akpaahatak watches Raphael from afar. His sidekick made it his mission to make a snowman out of the snow lying around the corner of a sidewalk. Nothing to do with the works of art in La Fontaine Park. We do it with the means at hand.
Raphael is found dead the next day. He was 51 years old.
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, THE PRESS
Flowers were laid in memory of Raphael André, near where he was found lifeless.
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When she discovered the swollen body, she notified a worker from La Porte Open. “It’s boring to say, but it’s not our first. We’re all sad, but we learn to move on the next day, ”he says.
Two days later, Lizzie regained her smile. We can imagine him wide under his mask at the sight of the small wrinkles that decorate his almond-shaped eyes. Her cheeks have returned to their purplish hue.
She whispers a little thought for “this generous guy who [lui] bought beer once ”.
But even his nonchalant tone cannot hide his sadness.
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