The B.C. Coroners Service has identified a 25-year-old video technician on the Jann Arden tour as the man who died after falling from a balcony at the Parkside Hotel and Spa in downtown Victoria last week.
Yoan Plourde of Lévis, Que., fell early Friday from the fourth floor of the hotel, at the corner of Humboldt and Blanshard streets, across from St. Ann’s Academy.
Plourde is an only son and his parents in Quebec have declined to speak to media, citing a need for privacy.
Plourde was an employee of Solotech, based in Montreal, which provides technical support for musical and theatrical shows around the world.
Arden, a Juno-award-winning singer-songwriter from Alberta, performed at Victoria’s Royal Theatre on Thursday night. She is touring to promote her 12th album.
Hotel security staff, Victoria police, and fire and ambulance crews responded immediately to reports of a man falling from the hotel’s balcony at about 2:30 a.m. Friday.
“Upon arrival of emergency personnel, the man was found to be deceased,” Const. Mike Russell said.
Foul play is not suspected. Alcohol may have been a contributing factor, Russell said.
Richard Lachance, Solotech’s senior vice-president of international business development, called Plourde a brilliant video technician.
“[He] loved his work and his co-workers with a passion and people loved him back in the same manner,” Lachance said Monday night.
Plourde’s death was not work-related and had nothing to do with Arden, he said.
“There is no sensational news here — it just is very sad for a couple in Lévis, Que., and his whole Solotech and touring family that loved him so,” Lachance said.
Russell said a police investigation determined that the fall was accidental and the file was turned over to the coroner’s office.
The B.C. Coroners Service said it could not say whether alcohol played a role in the incident, but it will investigate all possible factors that contributed to Plourde’s death.
Daniel Melnyk, the hotel’s director of sales and marketing, called the incident a tragedy and freak accident, saying, “Our condolences go out to the family.”
This message was posted on Arden’s Twitter feed Friday morning: “There are days that test the human heart; Long shadows that cast themselves like a fisherman’s net; Capturing every doubt you hold.”
Arden’s manager, Bruce Allen, is overseas and could not be contacted. No one from Bruce Allen Talent, based in Vancouver, was available to comment on Monday.
