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British Columbia’s chief coroner is reopening the investigation into the death of an Indigenous woman the day after her family went public with concerns about how her case was handled.
Dr. Jatinder Baidwan said in a statement Tuesday that he’s directing a coroner’s inquest to publicly review the circumstances that led to the death of Tatyanna Harrison, whose body was found on a dry-docked yacht in Richmond, B.C., in 2022.
Baidwan said he has an obligation as chief coroner to ensure public confidence in the BC Coroners Service and its processes.
On Monday, Harrison’s mother, Natasha, appeared alongside family members of Chelsea Poorman and 13-year-old Noelle O’Soup, who also died in 2022, and called for an inquest into all three deaths.
An advocacy group working with the families said Monday that a review by an independent forensic pathologist found Harrison’s cause of death should have been ruled as “undetermined” rather than the official finding of sepsis after an autopsy by the coroner.
Justice for Girls lawyer Sue Brown said in an interview Tuesday that news of the inquest has been a long time coming for Harrison’s family.
“I know that they’re feeling very relieved at the moment, but given the work that it’s taken to get here, that relief is qualified by the failures that have happened over the past three years and the work that we have ahead of us to learn more about what happened to Tatyanna,” she said.
Harrison was a 20-year-old Cree, Métis and Brazilian woman who was reported missing on May 3, 2022.
Her remains were found in Richmond the day before she was reported missing but it took three months for her mother to be informed.
Brown has said that no rape kit had been done during her autopsy, despite the fact that Harrison was found partially naked on the yacht with no explanation of how she got there, who she was with or why she was there.
Investigators initially said her death was likely due to an overdose, before a coroner later concluded she died of sepsis.
Baidwan said information about the date and location of the inquest would be provided in coming weeks.
“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,” he said in the statement.
Brown said Tuesday that it’s important for there to be a resolution to the conflicting information about Harrison’s cause of death and said the family still has many questions about the circumstances leading up to her death.
“A win will be answers. And transparent answers,” she said.
Baidwan said investigations into the deaths of Poorman and O’Soup remain open and decisions about whether to hold inquests in those cases will be made in future.
Poorman’s body was discovered behind an abandoned home in Vancouver and the body of O’Soup was found in the apartment of a sex offender after he died in the Downtown Eastside.
Brown said both of those cases still have many unanswered questions and she is hopeful more inquests will be called.
“In both of those cases, we really hope that they’ll do the right thing and call an inquest into them,” she said.
— With files from Chuck Chiang
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2025.
Ashley Joannou, The Canadian Press
