Kathleen Coombs had a friend over from work the day she got the call that her son’s body had been found.
“I was horrified. I just broke down crying,” the 55-year-old mother living in Penetanguishene, Ont., said.
“I was just numb, like I just don’t know how to explain it. This sick feeling came over me.”
Coombs’ son, Daniel Jason Coursol, also known as Danny, was living in Wetaskiwin, Alta., when he was reported missing in February.
In April, Coursol’s body was discovered in the Maskwacis area of Alberta, and five people, three of whom face first-degree murder charges, were arrested in connection to the incident.
“He leaves behind four little kids. The youngest is a year old, the oldest will be 13 in February.”
Coombs said she hasn’t been coping well since finding out her son was murdered. She sees a psychiatrist every week and a counsellor, and receives medication to help her sleep and deal with panic attacks.
“I get panic attacks because I think about it all the time,” Coombs said. “To me, it’s not real, but I have his ashes in my dresser drawer right next to my bed and in this locket here that I wear when I’m not working.
“It’s just like a mother’s worst nightmare. You never think it’s going to happen to you, but it does.”
Coombs is hoping to attend the sentencing hearings for the five people who were charged, but the trials are taking place in Alberta, thousands of kilometres away.
The Penetanguishene mother works a minimum-wage job and lives paycheque to paycheque. She must cover her $1,000 a month in rent, bills, transportation to Alberta, plus accommodations and meals during her stay – expenses she can’t afford on her own.
“I have to worry about when I go out for the trials, about losing my apartment because I don’t know how long I’m going to be out there,” she said.
Coombs has reached out to several victims’ services to help her navigate the system and look for compensation, but she said many have been unable to help her with funding.
“They say they can’t help me because my son was murdered in Alberta and I live in Ontario, and Ontario says they can’t help me because I live in Ontario and my son was murdered in Alberta,” she said.
“This is ridiculous — we live in Canada. I should qualify for help.”
According to Heidi Illingworth, the federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime, support systems for victims are provincially run and differ between jurisdictions.
“Even though we have a federal Victims Bill of Rights, it actually doesn’t speak to services,” Illingworth said. “Those are implemented by the provinces and territories.”
Aline Vlasceanu, the interim executive director of the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, said to her knowledge, there’s no compensation scheme in the country that covers travel, room and board expenses.
“I haven’t really seen anyone successfully get compensation for things like that,” Vlasceanu told Global News.
Ontario’s Attorney General Ministry declined an interview with Global News but provided some information regarding resources for victims in an email.
“The Ministry of the Attorney General, through its Vulnerable Victims and Family Fund (VVFF), provides funding for family members of homicide victims to travel to attend key court dates for court proceedings taking place in Ontario,” wrote Brian Gray, a spokesperson for the Ministry of the Attorney General.
“The VVFF does not provide funding for family members to attend out-of-province court proceedings.”
According to Carla Jones, Alberta’s justice and solicitor general’s communications adviser, the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service does not have a program that reimburses crime victims’ family members’ travel expenses to attend court proceedings.
“Ms. Coombs may wish to explore what supports may be available to her through the Wetaskiwin victim services unit,” Jones said in an email. “One option Ms. Coombs can explore is attending via teleconference.”
But the 55-year-old mother said she must get out to Alberta to see justice done for her son, who was 32 when he died.
“If I don’t, I’m just going to go right off the deep end,” Coombs said.
Coombs’ social worker, who isn’t being identified at the request of her workplace, wasn’t available for an interview but provided Global News with information in an email.
“Those answers could potentially support Kathleen’s grieving process.”
According to Vlasceanu, crime victims can feel re-victimized when it comes to dealing with the system.
“It’s very frustrating. You’re essentially just getting tossed around, and you’re not necessarily getting help from anybody, and in that sense, you’re getting re-victimized.”
Coombs has set up a GoFundMe page to help her cover costs, something that Vlasceanu said crime victims generally tend to rely on.
“There is a tendency for victims to have that GoFundMe page and rely on that…because there are no other options,” she said. “That’s not OK because we should be supporting victims.”
In some cases, Vlasceanu added, GoFundMe pages can even work against people who are applying for compensation.
“It’s been known that people have been rejected for compensation because of GoFundMe pages that they’ve had,” she said.
Coombs said she was reimbursed by the Alberta government to have her son cremated and sent to Ontario and that Wetaskiwin and District Victim Services has offered to provide her emotional support and transportation between the courthouse and her Alberta accommodations.
“I know people do care, but the system doesn’t care,” Coombs said. “They’re not there to help people in need like me, and I’m sure I’m not the only person that’s been in a situation like this either.”
Illingworth said her office hears complaints like Coombs’ regularly.
“It’s something that my office is going to continue to look at and see if there’s potential recommendations that we can make on this issue because we do hear about it from many victims,” she said.
— With files from Phil Heidenreich