Chantal Lavigne died in July 2011 in Sherbrooke, Québec (Canada) from hyperthermia and multiple organ dysfunction following an esoteric sweating ritual, which was invented and led by Gabrielle Fréchette, a New Age workshop leader.
The criminal trial ended in the incarceration of the three individuals found responsible for Lavigne's death: Gabrielle Fréchette, Ginette Duclos and Gérald Fontaine.
Interested in spirituality, organic farming and alternative medicine, Lavigne started to regularly attend workshops with a group focused on New Age beliefs in 2007.
Beginning with reiki and other forms of energy healing, she spent four years participating with the same group in workshops exploring different disciplines associated with the New Age movement.
[6][7] Offering costly training sessions allowing students to eventually become trainers is a common business model among personal growth groups, according to experts.
[2] In 2009, while Lavigne was taking a year off work after the birth of her second child, the frequency of the workshops increased as contact with her family and friends decreased, with some events lasting weeks.
Her family would later learn that Fréchette told her it was her destiny to endure tragic events unless she completed her esoteric training, a prophecy she also made about other members of the group to convince them to register for more workshops.
Lavigne nevertheless piled up $40,000 in credit card debt for training sessions on various topics, which allowed her in turn to practice reiki and lead others in various ceremonies.
It concluded a multi-day workshop called "Mourir en conscience" ("dying in consciousness") held in a rented farmhouse in Durham-Sud.
[3][4][12][13][14] Fréchette compared this experience to the sweat lodges used by North American Indigenous Peoples, but what happened during the workshop had nothing in common with that ceremony, which is centered around prayer and held sacred to the tribes who practice it.
[15] On a hot summer day, indoors and upstairs in the rented farmhouse, the participants in Fréchette's workshop were asked to lie down on the floor.
[24][3] Gabrielle Fréchette, Ginette Duclos and Gérald Fontaine were arrested by the provincial police a full year later, on July 26, 2012, and retained their freedom during the trial.