Alex Gervais: foster teen deliberately jumped from hotel window according to coroner

A coroner's report confirms a teenager whose death caused scrutiny ofthe province's practice of placing at-risk foster children in hotels deliberately jumped from a hotel window, but his family is still looking for answers.

The BC Coroners Service released its report intothe death of AlexGervais, an 18-year-old who was placed by the Children's Ministry inan Abbotsford Super 8 motelafter his group home was closed.

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The report by coroner Adele Lambert says Gervais had non-lethalconcentrations of cocaine and other drugs in his system before hedied after deliberately jumping through a fourth-floor window of themotel in September 2015.

Lambert describes the teenager as "very sensitive and fearful ofrejection" and says he threatened to kill himself inJanuary 2013but a hospital assessment concluded he had "zero risk of suicide."

She says in the weeks before his death, Gervais frequentlythreatened suicide when arguing with his girlfriend, and the daybefore he had been using drugs, was angry and distraught and was notsleeping.

Family and government reaction

Gervais' aunt, Line Decarie, told CBC Wednesday that while the coroner's report explains the immediate circumstances surrounding his death, it does not deal with the fundamental reasons for the tragedy.

"The path was clear from the beginning too many kids in so-called care,not enough case workers,insufficient evaluation of family situations,insufficient support of family,insufficient time and money spent on keeping the child in a loving and safe environment," she said in a written statement.

The B.C. NDP echoed her comments, criticizing the government's treatment of youth in ministry care.

"The system said that Gervais was a zero-percent risk of suicide.After that assessment, he leapt to his death," said John Horgan, leader of the opposition.

But the province saidchanges have been made to the foster care system since Gervais' death, includingtracking the number of kids being placed in hotels.

"It is a terrible situationfor young people to find themselves in. Government has a duty and obligation to make sure that we look after those children," said Premier Christy Clark.

Immediately after Gervais'death, the ministry said it housed childrenin hotels only in extreme circumstances, but in January it issueda report that revealed 117 foster children had been placed in hotelsbetween November 2014 and October 2015.

With files from The Canadian Press,Richard Zussman