Several Vancouver police officers are facing allegations of neglect of duty in connection with the Chelsea Poorman case.
The Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner confirmed on Thursday that the New Westminster Police Department has been appointed to conduct the investigation.
Further details of the investigation or the officers involved have not been released at this time.
In 2022, Vancouver police said Poorman’s cause of death may never be known because of how much her remains had decomposed by the time they were found. However, police say they found no evidence of foul play.
Chelsea’s mother, Sheila, told Global News that she was contacted a few weeks ago about the new investigation.
Poorman has always maintained that the Vancouver police response lacked urgency.
She said it took investigators 10 days to issue a missing person bulletin for her daughter.
“They didn’t take the case seriously,” Poorman told Global News on Thursday.
“I just kind of felt that I was pushed aside and Chelsea wasn’t important enough for them to investigate.”
Poorman said she is glad an investigation has been launched, even though it is so many years later.
“For the police not to take this serious was the worst thing I had to go though, losing my daughter and them not taking me serious,” she said in 2022.
“I cried to them, I told them she was vulnerable. And they didn’t take me serious. One of the questions they did ask was what’s her nationality. They asked if she was Indigenous, and I said yes she is. I didn’t know what’s the point in that.”
Poorman said she does not understand why there was a lack of urgency to find her daughter.
“I would like to see changes,” she said. “Especially when it comes to Indigenous people. We all love our children and when they go missing we want to be treated equally as others.
“I think that’s the important thing. Treating everybody equally.”