Coroners inquest ordered to look into 2022 death of 20-year-old Indigenous woman

Following the public demands of advocates in Vancouver seeking justice for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, the B.C. government says it will order an inquest into the 2022 death of 20-year-old Tatyanna Harrison.

At a media event Monday, a group including Harrison’s family members announced having called on the provincial minister of public safety and solicitor general, Garry Begg, to direct a coroner’s inquest.

Sue Brown, the staff lawyer for advocacy group Justice for Girls, said the demand followed an independent review of Harrison’s death by a forensic pathologist.

Justice for Girls says Harrison had been reported missing by her mother on May 3, 2022. The group says police had found her remains in Richmond a day before, but it wasn’t until August 2022 that police were able to identify them. Her death had initially been reported to be related to drug toxicity, but the BC Coroners’ Service released a report in February 2023 saying she had died from sepsis. Her case is considered to be non-criminal in nature.

Brown says the pathologist disagreed with the coroner’s findings.

“Furthermore, it is his opinion that the manner of her death should be ruled as undetermined and in contradiction to what the coroner found,” said Brown.

In a statement Tuesday, the ministry says the province’s chief coroner, Dr. Jatinder Baidwan, will conduct an inquest.

“As a parent, I cannot fathom the trauma and grief that the Harrison family has experienced over the past three years. The pain of losing a child is unimaginable, and the concerns the Harrisons have expressed regarding the circumstances of Tatyanna’s death only adds to that pain,” said Baidwan.

“Having reviewed the investigative findings regarding Tatyanna Harrison’s death and considering my obligation as chief coroner to ensure public confidence in the BC Coroners Service and its processes, I have ordered that the investigation into Tatyanna’s death be reopened. Further, pursuant to Section 18 of the Coroners Act, I am directing a coroner’s inquest to publicly review the circumstances that led to her death.”

Baidwan says an inquest will provide an opportunity for a broad, open and transparent review of the circumstances, allowing the jury to make meaningful recommendations to prevent similar deaths.

Included in the media event Monday were the families of 24-year-old Chelsea Poorman, and 13-year-old Noelle O’Soup.

Poorman was visiting from Saskatchewan when she went missing in downtown Vancouver on Sept. 6, 2020, Justice for Girls says. Her remains were found on April 22, 2022, on the grounds of an abandoned mansion in the city’s Shaughnessy neighbourhood. Police initially said her death was not suspicious, but the coroner said the state of her remains meant they were unable to determine the cause of death.

The advocacy group says O’Soup, a member of the Key First Nation, was in a foster care group home in Port Coquitlam when she was reported missing. No Amber Alert was issued, and child welfare authorities did not coordinate a search, it says. Her remains were found in an apartment building in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside neighbourhood in May 2022 — a year after she had been reported missing. Her cause of death is undetermined.

The group did not make explicit demands of the ministry related to Poorman and O’Soup’s deaths Monday but said an inquest will shed light on systemic failures and missteps by the Vancouver Police Department and the BC Coroner’s Service.

Baidwan says the investigations into the two other deaths remain open.

“Determinations about whether to proceed to inquest with these deaths will be made at a future date, and we will remain in communication with the Poorman and O’Soup families throughout the process.”

—With files from Emma Crawford and Srushti Gangdev.