Organizations urge provincial review following jury’s undetermined ruling
VANCOUVER, B.C. — A coroner’s inquest into the 2022 disappearance and death of Tatyanna Harrison has raised serious concerns about investigative failures, prompting renewed calls for accountability and systemic reform across policing and oversight agencies in British Columbia.
The inquest, held in Vancouver on the unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh and səlilwətaɬ Nations, examined the circumstances surrounding the death of Harrison, a 20-year-old Cree, Métis and Brazilian woman. A five-member jury ultimately concluded that the cause and manner of death should be classified as undetermined, rejecting earlier findings by the B.C. Coroners Service.
Advocacy groups including Justice for Girls, the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA), and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) say evidence presented during the inquest exposed significant shortcomings in the initial investigations by the RCMP, the Coroners Service, and the Vancouver Police Department (VPD). The organizations are now calling on the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General to initiate a comprehensive review and allocate resources to reassess the case.
Failures in investigative procedures
Evidence presented at the inquest revealed that the RCMP, which led the death investigation, did not follow several basic investigative procedures required under its own policies. These include preserving evidence at the scene, following up with witnesses, verifying statements, and examining potential indicators of foul play such as sexual assault or trafficking.
Despite the circumstances in which Harrison’s body was found — alone in a derelict yacht, partially unclothed, with visible injuries — investigators concluded early on that her death was not suspicious. Officers cited the presence of drug paraphernalia and made assumptions about possible drug use and involvement in prostitution, despite having no confirmed information about her identity or the ownership of items found at the scene.
Sue Brown, legal counsel for Harrison’s mother, Natasha Harrison, criticized the approach taken by investigators. She said: “Tatyanna’s case needs to be reviewed in light of what was learned at the inquest. It’s clear the respective investigations by the RCMP and the Coroners Service were not sufficiently thorough and appear to have been heavily influenced by investigators’ initial assumptions at the scene. Her case has yet to be properly investigated and the police have a due diligence obligation to determine whether more investigative avenues can be pursued because there are so many unanswered questions: how did Tatyanna get to Richmond, with whom, and when? Most importantly, we still do not know what caused her to die.”
Coroners Service questioned over conclusions
The B.C. Coroners Service also came under scrutiny for its handling of the case. The inquest heard that the agency relied heavily on an early theory of drug toxicity, even after toxicology reports indicated only low levels of fentanyl consistent with therapeutic use.
Despite this, officials communicated to both police and the public that Harrison’s death was likely due to drug toxicity. The Coroners Service later revised its conclusion to sepsis in 2023, a finding disputed by an independent forensic pathologist who testified that the evidence supported an undetermined classification and warranted further forensic examination.
Brown emphasized the implications of these assumptions, stating: “We don’t know how, or to what extent, these assumptions impacted the quality of the investigations by the RCMP or the BC Coroners Service, but the inquest has raised further concerns. Working theories and assumptions must be tested and investigations must be thorough and driven by the evidence. Nobody questioned these assumptions, even as the evidence emerging was unable to substantiate them—and that should be concerning to everybody. The Coroners Service got it wrong.”
Concerns over missing persons response
The Vancouver Police Department’s response to Harrison’s disappearance also came under review. The inquest found that the VPD did not classify her case as high-risk, partly because it does not follow provincial standards for missing persons investigations. These standards were introduced following the 2012 Missing Women Commission of Inquiry to prevent systemic failures.
The jury issued several recommendations aimed at improving investigative practices, including enhanced training, better communication between agencies, mandatory compliance with provincial standards, and the inclusion of Indigenous liaison officers in investigative units.
Family and advocates demand accountability
Harrison’s mother delivered a powerful statement during the proceedings, raising concerns about how her daughter’s remains were handled. Natasha Harrison said: “The Coroners Service released my daughter’s body to the Ministry of Social Development and Poverty Reduction without my consent or knowledge. I went into this inquest seeking answers. I am coming out planning a burial ceremony for my daughter, who has been lying in an unmarked grave in Surrey for three years, something I learned during last week’s inquest. I need to know—and the public needs to know—how could the Province bury my daughter without my knowledge or involvement, and without my name or her ancestry on the Registration? This cannot be explained away as an oversight, was it negligence, was it racism? The severity of the missteps in every aspect of Tatyanna’s case continue to come to light, even after the coroner’s inquest has concluded. Tatyanna deserves dignity. I kept hearing the word dignity in the inquest, yet there is nothing dignified about the way she was treated. They failed my daughter and then they buried her like she didn’t matter, along with any hope of learning more about what killed her. Shame on them.”
Advocates say the case reflects broader systemic issues affecting Indigenous women and girls. Latoya Farrell of the BCCLA said: “Tatyanna Harrison didn’t slip through the cracks; she fell through canyon-wide gaps in a system that has continually failed vulnerable Indigenous women and girls. The inquest highlighted how a multitude of systems failed Tatyanna at every turn. VPD failed to designate her as a high-risk missing person. Rather than properly investigating the circumstances of her death, Richmond RCMP and the BC Coroners Service relied on prejudicial assumptions to erroneously conclude that she likely died of fentanyl toxicity. We now know this was not the case. Tatyanna deserved better, and we must hold these public bodies accountable for their systemic failures.”
Grand Chief Stewart Phillip of UBCIC added: “The results of this tragic Inquest are one small step closer to truth—yet they also uncover the profound errors in this investigation, the missteps of justice, and the magnitude of preventable suffering. While we welcome its findings, we are reminded that Tatyanna’s death is part of a deeply systemic crisis of gendered and racial violence and the Missing and Murdered Indigenous women, girls and two-spirit+ epidemic. UBCIC shares our grief and our unwavering commitment with Tatyanna’s family and with the many families who are still awaiting justice, among them those of Chelsea Poorman and Noelle O’Soup. We urge the Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General to meaningfully enact these recommendations to prevent further harm.”
Advocates warn that without swift action, the systemic failures identified in the inquest risk being repeated, leaving critical questions unanswered and undermining public confidence in investigative institutions.