'He had a strong voice': Sask. prisoner advocate Cory Cardinal dead at 38
Well-known prisoner advocate Cory Cardinal has died at the age of 38.
Cardinal was known to fight for prisoners' rights and for exposing prison conditions in the province.
He had made his presence even more known during the COVID-19 pandemic by flagging overcrowding and fighting for those who had a compromised immune system.
Cardinal ran a group called Inmates for Humane Conditions that helps connect inmates with resources.
His death was confirmed by a colleague. The cause of his death is suspected to be an overdose with no foul play.
Sherri Maier, founder of Beyond Prison Walls Canada, says it was a "shock" when she heard the news.
"He was really influential in doing things, getting those Skype visits for inmates, especially in Saskatoon," she told CTV News.
In February, Cardinal went on a hunger strike to support women in the Pine Grove Correctional Centre in Prince Albert.
Maier says he went on six or seven hunger strikes and even went 21 days for one of them.
She says he'll be remembered for his advocacy, his poetry and having a strong voice for prisoners' rights.
"I always say the more people that stand together the stronger that we become. But I mean him alone, just himself, is influential," Maier adds.
"You look at any of his poetry and stuff he is published in a lot of places and i think that's what he will be remembered by. It's a huge loss for all the advocates."
An investigation into his death is underway, according to Maier.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
For the first time in report's history, Canada's air quality worse than U.S.
Thanks to wildfires, air quality in Canada is now worse than in the U.S., according to the 6th Annual World Air Quality Report.
A newspaper says video of Prince William and Kate should halt royal rumour mill. That's a tall order
Prince William and his wife Catherine have been filmed at a farm shop near their Windsor home, The Sun newspaper reported -- the first footage of Kate since she had abdominal surgery for an unspecified condition two months ago.
BREAKING Roy McMurtry, former Ontario attorney general, dies at 91
CTV News has confirmed that former Ontario attorney general Roy McMurtry has died.
Hertz CEO out following electric car 'horror show'
The company, which announced in January it was selling 20,000 of the electric vehicles in its fleet, or about a third of the EVs it owned, is now replacing the CEO who helped build up that fleet, giving it the company’s fifth boss in just four years.
'You ask for your money, they disappear': Ontario man loses $17K to AI crypto scam
A Toronto man is spreading the word of a cryptocurrency scam that lures victims using AI-generated news sites after he lost $17,000 in investments.
DEVELOPING Canada's annual inflation rate ticked down to 2.8 per cent in February, defying expectations
Statistics Canada says the annual inflation rate edged down to 2.8 per cent in February.
High thoughts: The habits of Canadian cannabis users are revealed in a new StatCan report
Statistics Canada has conducted a series of surveys to measure the impacts of legalized cannabis since the Cannabis Act took effect in 2018. The latest one, the 2023 National Cannabis Survey, sheds light on users' preferences and habits last year.
Demand soars for solar eclipse glasses in Canada. Are they worth buying?
The demand for total solar eclipse glasses used to safely view the rare celestial event has been ramping up as sellers, along with astronomy and eye-care experts in Canada, warn that viewing the eclipse with the naked eye is dangerous.
Trump says Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and their religion
Former U.S. president Donald Trump on Monday charged that Jews who vote for Democrats 'hate Israel' and hate 'their religion,' igniting a firestorm of criticism from the White House and Jewish leaders.