British Columbia’s chief coroner has ordered that the investigation into Tatyanna Harrison’s death be reopened and that an inquest into how she died be held.
It comes one day after Harrison’s mother and two other families made a public call for inquests into their own loved ones’ deaths. All three deaths — Harrison, 20, Chelsea Poorman, 24, and Noelle O’Soup, 13 — involved young Indigenous women and girls.
Harrison was reported missing on May 3, 2022. Her remains were found on a drydocked yacht in Richmond the day prior, but not identified until August.
Police initially said she died of a lethal dose of fentanyl, though a coroner subsequently said her death was a result of sepsis.
Her family later retained a licensed forensic pathologist to conduct an independent review, which disagreed with that finding, concluding the cause of death should be listed as “undetermined.”
The group Justice for Girls told Media on Monday Harrison’s family had to fight for a rape kit to be performed on her remains, even though she was found partially clothed. The kit still has not been processed, the group said.
Her mother and supporters maintain that the investigation was mishandled and deprioritized by police.
“Every question I had for the coroner, police and RCMP it didn’t bring me clarity,” Tatayanna’s mother, Natasha Harrison, told media on Monday.
“It has been three years of fighting for basic human rights for Tatyanna, fighting for a fair investigation for my daughter — for three years she hasn’t been laid to rest, for three years I haven’t been able to properly grieve her loss.”
On Tuesday, Chief Coroner Dr. Jatinder Baidwan ordered the case reopened out of an obligation to “ensure public confidence in the BC Coroners Service and its processes.”
“An inquest will provide an opportunity for a broad, open and transparent review of the circumstances related to Tatyanna’s death, and my hope is that the jury will be able to make meaningful recommendations that will prevent similar deaths from occurring in the future.”
But Baidwan stopped short of calling inquests into all three deaths as families had called for on Monday.
He said investigations into Poorman and O’Soup’s deaths remained open and decisions about a future inquest in their cases would be made at a later date.