Three found guilty for extreme sweating spa death

Thirty-five-year-old Chantal Lavigne died in 2011 after undergoing what’s called sweat therapy at a spa near Drummondville.

Three people charged in connection with the death of Chantal Lavigne - who died during an extreme sweating ritual in July 2011 in Durham South - have been found guiity.

Gabrielle Frechette, Ginette Duclos and Gerald Fontaine will be sentenced on December 23.

During the fatal session, participants were plastered with mud, wrapped in a plastic sheet and a blanket and had their heads covered with cardboard boxes for nine hours.

Lavigne died during the process but others were also made ill by the process, which the coroner described as the equivalent of being cooked alive.

Lavigne’s husband Patrick Naud applauded the decision by the judge Hélène Fabi but noted that the verdict would not bring back the mother of his three children.