Toddler found inside Ottawa apartment with dead body

Ottawa police are investigating how long a child was inside a Mechanicsville apartment with a dead body, which a neighbour says was his mother's.

Police said they were called to the six-storeyapartment building on Burnside Avenue, east ofTunney's Pasture, just before 11 a.m. Wednesday after people checking fire alarms found a woman's body inside one of the units.

A child was found alive in that same unit, police said, and was turned over to the Children's Aid Society.

Police said Thursday afternoon they won't know when or how the woman died until they hear back from the coroner, but foul play is not suspected.

A lone officer was posted outside the sealed-off unit when CBC News visited the floor Thursday afternoon.

A woman living beside the unit where this happened said the child is the woman's two-year-old son.

"He was in a loaded diaper, the apartment was trashed [the mother] kept her home immaculate," she said about what she sawWednesday morning.

"That little boy was calling for his mom. The paramedics and police came, they cleaned him up and took care of him."

She said she hadn't heard anythingfrom the unit since Saturday and the mother and son had lived there about a year and a half.

Ottawa Community Housing, which manages the building, said in a statement they can't comment on the circumstances of what happened because of the police investigation, but they're "deeply saddened" by it.

"[We]will continue to work closely with our partners to provide support for tenants that may require assistance dealing with the event," said CEO Stphane Gigurein the statement.

"We continue to make the wellbeingof our tenants a top priority."

Gigure said the child is now safe.

The Children's Aid Society of Ottawa said they can't talk about howthe child is doing nor the state he was in when he was foundfor confidentiality reasons.