Family, supporters call for renewed investigation into death of Tatyanna Harrison

Supporters say serious questions remain about police and coroner accountability in the missing person and death investigation of the 20-year-old Indigenous woman.

Family, supporters call for renewed investigation into death of Tatyanna Harrison Supporters say coroner's inquest has raised serious questions about police and coroner accountability Supporters of Tatyanna Harrison's family are asking for a renewed investigation into the disappearance and death of the 20-year-old Indigenous woman four years ago. The call comes days after the conclusion of a coroner's inquest into Tatyanna Harrison's death that her mother, Natasha Harrison, and supporters say exposed numerous missteps throughout the investigation within policing agencies and the B.C. Coroners Service. "Tatyanna deserves dignity," said Natasha Harrison.

"I kept hearing the word dignity in the inquest, yet there is nothing dignified about the way she was treated." Harrison reported her daughter missing on May 3, 2022, one day after Richmond RCMP located a deceased woman on a drydocked yacht at the Shelter Bay Marina & Shipyard. It took police and the coroner three months to identify the body as Tatyanna Harrison's.

She was found naked from the waist down, with wounds on both hips, bruised pelvis, possible broken nose and without identification, shoes, underwear and the glasses she always wore. Richmond RCMP publicized the cause of death as an overdose and determined there was nothing suspicious at the scene that warranted an investigation. But an autopsy of the body found low, non-lethal levels of fentanyl, and the cause of death was changed to sepsis, although not immediately updated by the coroner or police.

After hearing five days of evidence, a coroner's jury reclassified the cause of death as "undetermined." Sue Brown, legal counsel for Natasha Harrison, said the coroners service and police need to be held accountable. "We are witnessing a repeat of the systemic failures identified in the Pickton investigations, where discriminatory assumptions shaped investigations and basic steps were not followed," said Brown.

“Important questions were not answered, evidence was not tested or collected. Witness statements were not verified. The injuries to her body, including abrasions to her pelvic area, knees and bruising to her face have never been explained."

Harrison said her daughter was failed yet again when she was buried at a Surrey cemetery three years ago, something the mother only learned during the coroner's inquest. Police say nothing criminally suspicious observed on yacht where Tatyanna Harrison's body was found Testimony wraps at coroner's inquest into death of Tatyanna Harrison Harrison said she never agreed that the coroner could release her daughter's body and had asked for a second opinion on the cause of death. “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," she said. The Richmond RCMP investigation took place in parallel with a missing person's investigation that was bounced from the Vancouver Police Department (VPD) to Surrey RCMP and back to the VPD in a span of three weeks, despite information from Natasha Harrison that her daughter had gone missing from Vancouver.

The VPD, coroner and Richmond Police didn't think the photos they had of her, which were five years old, matched photos of the deceased on the yacht. The body was eventually identified as Tatyanna Harrison's through DNA analysis. Brown said Richmond RCMP did not follow its own policies for investigating that require all reportable deaths within RCMP jurisdiction be treated "as suspicious and thoroughly investigated.”

"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,” said Brown. The Harrison family, Justice for Girls, B.C. Civil Liberties Association and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs have joined together to call for the Ministry of Public Safety and Solicitor General to direct resources towards a review and renewal of the investigation.