CASANDRA FOX (1996-2023): PUBLIC INQUEST IN MAPLE CREEK ‘OUR PRETTY WAS ALWAYS THE LIFE AND SOUL OF THE PARTY’

Posted on June 29, 2026 by Ryan Dahlman

By Marcus Day

Maple Creek News

To her family, Casandra Fox was always special. Her outgoing personality pulled people into her orbit. So too her loving, giving nature.

Even her name was unusual – Casandra spelled with one S, not two.

Of course, she also possessed striking features, seen in the photograph on the right sent to the News-Times by her brother, David, and reflected in her nickname “Pretty”.

“She was very outgoing, and always the life and soul of the party,” said her sister, Simone. “She was also a really good mother.”

“You were drawn to her,” said David. “She was a very sweet girl.”

The family’s portrait of “Pretty” is not the one painted at last week’s inquest into her death at the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge, which she entered on December 22, 2022.

As she was at the lodge less than a month, staff and her house mate didn’t have a lot of time to get to know her.

It was also a difficult period in her life.

Witnesses described a quiet person, and on the day of her passing, she was visibly upset.

Unfortunately, said Simone, life didn’t always treat her sister well or fairly. She also lost her father while incarcerated, and couldn’t go to the funeral.

Since January 18, 2023, the Fox family has tried to pull together, each member processing the tragedy differently.

“My sister Simone is the strongest one,” said David. “She is the rock, the captain. She has taken care of the daughter since my sister has gone.”

At the inquest, Simone, David and his brother, Albert, and Casandra’s step-mother, Caroline Mosquito, sat through two days of testimony, reliving the worst time in their lives.

“Everybody has their own emotions,” said David. “Some are more angry; some are more understanding.”

As they try to move on, Casandra will continue to live in their hearts.

She will remain forever at 26, her spirit beyond the reach of human frailty, pain, hurt, and time.