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Global News
06-05-2025
- Global News
Families of Tatyanna Harrison, Chelsea Poorman, Noelle O'Soup call for inquest into deaths
The families of two Indigenous women and an Indigenous teen girl who were found dead in Metro Vancouver are calling for a coroner's inquest into their deaths. The families of Tatyanna Harrison, 20, Chelsea Poorman, 24, and Noelle O'Soup, 13, and the group Justice for Girls chose Red Dress Day, which honours missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, to press the issue. 2:18 Vigil held for Tatyanna Harrison, Chelsea Poorman and Noelle O'Soup Harrison was found dead aboard an abandoned yacht in Richmond in August 2022. Poorman was found in a vacant mansion on Vancouver's west side in May of the same year. O'Soup was found in a Downtown Eastside apartment, also in May 2022, after being overlooked by investigators who had visited the unit several times. Story continues below advertisement The families of each have long argued that their cases were mishandled and deprioritized by police. 'From the beginning of the investigations, the families were left to search for the missing girls on their own, to investigate their cases, to bring leads to investigators and hope they would be followed,' Justice for Girls staff lawyer Sue Brown said. Get daily National news Get the day's top news, political, economic, and current affairs headlines, delivered to your inbox once a day. Sign up for daily National newsletter Sign Up By providing your email address, you have read and agree to Global News' Terms and Conditions and Privacy Policy 'Their families' search for answers did not end when their deaths were deemed not criminal or not suspicious.' In 2022, the B.C. Coroners Service said Harrison died of sepsis. Harrison's family subsequently retained a licensed forensic pathologist to conduct an independent review of her file, which disagreed with that conclusion. Her family said it also had to advocate for a rape kit to be performed on Harrison, samples which still have not been processed. 'There have been no answers for three years. If you were to help somebody hide a crime that would be a crime itself, so I don't know what happens when our justice system does it,' her mother Natasha Harrison said. 2:11 Vancouver officers investigated for neglect of duty in Chelsea Poorman case 'Everything they did in Tatyana's case is exactly what you would have needed to do to fail her.' Story continues below advertisement Poorman and O'Soup's causes of death have not been determined. Poorman's mother, Sheila Poorman, said she's still been unable to get answers to many questions about Chelsea's case, including how or why she made it to the abandoned home. 'Chelsea was a person who wouldn't hurt anyone,' she said. 'She'd rather give whatever she had to help somebody, she would go out of her way to help a person in need, even though she didn't have the resources herself.' O'Soup's aunt Josie August said the young teen was 'failed at every level by this country, by this government, by child welfare, by the Vancouver police by the RCMP' after running away from her group home. 1:06 Families call out Vancouver police for Indigenous investigations 'We've found more out from the media than from Vancouver police, from the (Ministry of Children and Family Development), and this has caused great harm to the family, where we no longer can watch the news,' she said. Story continues below advertisement 'Her family in Saskatchewan found out she was discovered through social media, through the news.' Brown said the way the three cases were handled exactly mirrors the systemic failures to protect Indigenous women and girls highlighted by Canada's national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls — an exercise that produced many recommendations and little real action. Holding an inquest, she said, is an opportunity for the province to right an 'egregious historical wrong.' 'It's an opportunity for the coroner's office to regain public trust and bring much-needed answers as to what happened to Tatyanna, Noelle and Chelsea,' she said. Global News is seeking comment from Public Safety Minister Gary Begg.
Yahoo
05-05-2025
- Yahoo
Advocates, families call for coroner's inquest into deaths of Indigenous women, girl
WARNING: This story includes allegations of violence against Indigenous women and girls and may affect those who have experienced it or know someone who has. The families of two young Indigenous women and an Indigenous girl whose bodies were separately discovered across Metro Vancouver in disturbing circumstances are calling for B.C.'s minister of public safety and solicitor general to direct a coroner's inquest into their deaths. Groups including Justice for Girls and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs delivered the call to Garry Begg Monday morning, announcing that an independent forensic pathologist review is disputing the B.C. Coroners Service's findings related to Tatyanna Harrison's cause of death. The deaths of Harrison, Noelle O'Soup and Chelsea Poorman rattled Metro Vancouver in the spring of 2022. In all three cases, family members raised concerns about the quality of the police investigations, sounding the alarm about lengthy delays in initiating searches and, in two of the three cases, quick determinations that the deaths were non-criminal in nature. A recent CBC News investigation revealed the Vancouver Police Department responses to the three deaths are now being investigated by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, the civilian, independent office that oversees complaints into police forces in B.C. The minister of public safety and the B.C. Coroners Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Cause of death disputed Harrison's body was found on a dry dock in Richmond on May 2, 2022, though she wasn't identified until August. Police quickly deemed Harrison's death non-suspicious, telling her mother Natasha Harrison that the cause of death was fentanyl toxicity. But the coroner's report later concluded the 20-year-old died of sepsis, a blood infection that can be fatal if left untreated. At a Monday press conference, lawyer Sue Brown with Justice for Girls said an independent forensic analysis and review found Harrison's cause of death should be ruled "undetermined." The review, which relied on information provided by the B.C. Coroners Service, states "there appears to be no compelling evidence to suggest that the cause of death would have been sepsis, as has been proposed by the B.C. Coroners Service autopsy pathologist and the reporting coroner." Natasha Harrison raised other concerns about the investigation, questioning why a rape kit exam wasn't performed on her daughter despite her being naked from the waist down when she was found. She also said there was a 20-day delay in starting the search, as the file was passed between jurisdictions. Chelsea Poorman Twenty-four-year-old Chelsea Poorman first disappeared in September 2020. Her body was found 18 months later in the yard of a mansion in Vancouver's Shaughnessy nieghbourhood. Her death was quickly deemed to be not criminal in nature. Her mother, Sheila Poorman, said it took over a week for police to issue a missing person report. She told the media that her daughter's body was missing fingers and a section of her cranium when her remains were found. The New Westminster Police Department is investigating the conduct of several Vancouver police officers in relation to Poorman's disappearance. Vancouver police said in a statement that there is no evidence Chelsea's death was the result of a crime, though they continue to investigate how she travelled to the location where she died, given that she had difficulty walking. Noelle O'Soup Of the three cases, Noelle O'Soup's is the only one that remains an ongoing criminal investigation. O'Soup was in the custody of B.C.'s Ministry of Child and Family Development in 2021. She fled a Port Coquitlam group home in May 2021 when she was 13. Her body was found in May 2022 in a one-room apartment on Heatley Avenue alongside the body of a woman. The apartment also contained the body of its tenant, a 46-year-old man named Van Chung Pham. When police initially searched the room, they found only Pham's body. The two other bodies in the small room would only be found months later, leaving the families confounded. A police officer is being investigated for alleged neglect of duty under the Police Act in connection with the discovery of the bodies. A CBC News investigation revealed more disturbing details in the case. Canadian immigration officials had deemed Pham a danger to vulnerable women in Vancouver and had sought to have him deported back to his home country of Vietnam. When the attempt at deportation stalled, they released him back into the community. Pham was also linked to the deaths of and assaults on other women. Another unknown woman had died of an overdose while in his hotel room at the Canada Hotel. Yet another woman had reported to police that he allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted her at his Heatley Block apartment. Crisis support is available for anyone affected by these reports and the issue of missing and murdered Indigenous people through a national 24-hour hotline at 1-844-413-6649. Health support services such as mental health counselling, community-based support and cultural services, and some travel costs to see elders and traditional healers are available through the government of Canada. Family members seeking information about a missing or murdered loved one can access Family Information Liaison Units.
CBC
05-05-2025
- CBC
Advocates, families call for coroner's inquest into deaths of Indigenous women, girl
WARNING: This story includes allegations of violence against Indigenous women and girls and may affect those who have experienced it or know someone who has. The families of two young Indigenous women and an Indigenous girl whose bodies were separately discovered across Metro Vancouver in disturbing circumstances are calling for B.C.'s minister of public safety and solicitor general to direct a coroner's inquest into their deaths. Groups including Justice for Girls and the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs delivered the call to Garry Begg Monday morning, announcing that an independent forensic pathologist review is disputing the B.C. Coroners Service's findings related to Tatyanna Harrison's cause of death. The deaths of Harrison, Noelle O'Soup and Chelsea Poorman rattled Metro Vancouver in the spring of 2022. In all three cases, family members raised concerns about the quality of the police investigations, sounding the alarm about lengthy delays in initiating searches and, in two of the three cases, quick determinations that the deaths were non-criminal in nature. A recent CBC News investigation revealed the Vancouver Police Department responses to the three deaths are now being investigated by the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner, the civilian, independent office that oversees complaints into police forces in B.C. The minister of public safety and the B.C. Coroners Service did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Cause of death disputed Harrison's body was found on a dry dock in Richmond on May 2, 2022, though she wasn't identified until August. Police quickly deemed Harrison's death non-suspicious, telling her mother Natasha Harrison that the cause of death was fentanyl toxicity. But the coroner's report later concluded the 20-year-old died of sepsis, a blood infection that can be fatal if left untreated. At a Monday press conference, lawyer Sue Brown with Justice for Girls said an independent forensic analysis and review found Harrison's cause of death should be ruled "undetermined." The review, which relied on information provided by the B.C. Coroners Service, states "there appears to be no compelling evidence to suggest that the cause of death would have been sepsis, as has been proposed by the B.C. Coroners Service autopsy pathologist and the reporting coroner." Natasha Harrison raised other concerns about the investigation, questioning why a rape kit exam wasn't performed on her daughter despite her being naked from the waist down when she was found. She also said there was a 20-day delay in starting the search, as the file was passed between jurisdictions. Chelsea Poorman Twenty-four-year-old Chelsea Poorman first disappeared in September 2020. Her body was found 18 months later in the yard of a mansion in Vancouver's Shaughnessy nieghbourhood. Her death was quickly deemed to be not criminal in nature. Her mother, Sheila Poorman, said it took over a week for police to issue a missing person report. She told the media that her daughter's body was missing fingers and a section of her cranium when her remains were found. The New Westminster Police Department is investigating the conduct of several Vancouver police officers in relation to Poorman's disappearance. Vancouver police said in a statement that there is no evidence Chelsea's death was the result of a crime, though they continue to investigate how she travelled to the location where she died, given that she had difficulty walking. Noelle O'Soup Of the three cases, Noelle O'Soup's is the only one that remains an ongoing criminal investigation. O'Soup was in the custody of B.C.'s Ministry of Child and Family Development in 2021. She fled a Port Coquitlam group home in May 2021 when she was 13. Her body was found in May 2022 in a one-room apartment on Heatley Avenue alongside the body of a woman. The apartment also contained the body of its tenant, a 46-year-old man named Van Chung Pham. When police initially searched the room, they found only Pham's body. The two other bodies in the small room would only be found months later, leaving the families confounded. A police officer is being investigated for alleged neglect of duty under the Police Act in connection with the discovery of the bodies. A CBC News investigation revealed more disturbing details in the case. Canadian immigration officials had deemed Pham a danger to vulnerable women in Vancouver and had sought to have him deported back to his home country of Vietnam. When the attempt at deportation stalled, they released him back into the community. Pham was also linked to the deaths of and assaults on other women. Another unknown woman had died of an overdose while in his hotel room at the Canada Hotel. Yet another woman had reported to police that he allegedly drugged and sexually assaulted her at his Heatley Block apartment.
CBC
17-03-2025
- Health
- CBC
B.C.'s chief coroner looks at new approach to tackling the overdose crisis
Nine years after the start of a public health emergency that has killed more than 16,000 people, B.C.'s new chief coroner is taking on the crisis in a new way — an approach he says is, perhaps, a little less political than his predecessor. Dr. Jatinder Baidwan, who goes by Taj, says he plans to take less of an advocacy role compared to Lisa Lapointe, who often pointed sharp criticism at the government when she disagreed with its approach on preventing drug deaths. "As the chief coroner, it's my responsibility not to advocate for any particular group out there. But to advocate for all British Columbians … for those who have died," said Baidwain, who started his five-year term in August. Baidwan doesn't profess to have all the answers on how to stop overdose deaths and the cycle of addiction. But he is concerned that harm reduction advocates and those who advocate for abstinence-based treatment and recovery are so ensconced in their stance that they won't talk to one another. "How do we, as the coroners service, get people with all ideas on how to fix this issue around a table and get them to talk to one another?" Baidwan joined the B.C. Coroners Service in 2016 as a chief medical officer. His 20 years working as a medical officer in the British Army has taken him all over the world— Iraq, Bosnia and parts of Africa. Baidwan also worked in the Household Cavalry, guarding the Queen. He, his wife of 28 years and their two youngest children — twins who are about to enter university — relocated from England to B.C. in 2007, and Baidwan worked as an emergency room doctor in Victoria and throughout rural B.C. Their oldest son remained in the U.K., where he works as an ER doctor. Baidwan says he wants to be more strategic in the way his agency puts out information on toxic drug deaths and also highlight other preventable deaths like those of unhoused people and deaths from intimate partner violence. Speaking from his office in Victoria overlooking the Inner Harbour, Baidwan says he and his team are moving to deeper analysis of trends in overdose deaths, instead of fixating on monthly overdose numbers to tell the story. He's concerned the public becomes desensitized to the deaths and begins to tune them out. "I do worry that flooding the media with information sometimes isn't the best way of doing it," he said. "Any death, one death from this scourge is one death too many." Some harm reduction advocates initially feared this meant Baidwan was moving his focus away from opioid deaths. Leslie McBain, who has pushed for a safer supply of regulated opioids ever since her son, Jordan, died of an overdose in 2014, says after a meeting with Baidwan this month, she's convinced that's not the case. "I'm very impressed by this man, he's a straight shooter," said McBain, of Moms Stop the Harm. "He absolutely knows on a deep level about the opioid crisis. He may not give his deep opinions but, as all coroners do, he will give recommendations on ameliorating the situation." "We are not stopping the attention we've given in the past," Baidwan said. "In fact, we're increasing the amount of time we're thinking about drug deaths." For example, Baidwan says he's trying to enhance partnerships with the B.C. Centre for Disease Control so some of their data analysts and public health researchers can improve the analysis done on overdose deaths. Different approach from his predecessor It's a different approach compared to that of his predecessor, Lapointe, who led the coroner service for 13 years. Lapointe, a lawyer, pushed for decriminalization of hard drugs and for a safer supply of regulated opioids to separate people from deadly street drugs. Compassion is key to solving toxic drug crisis, B.C.'s retiring chief coroner says 1 year ago Duration 8:15 Toxic drugs have killed nearly 14,000 people in British Columbia since 2016, making drug deaths a dominant issue during Lisa Lapointe's tenure as chief coroner. She talks to The National's Ian Hanomansing about advocating for a 'safer supply' and why compassion would go a long way in solving the drug crisis. But the public — and eventually the NDP government — were not always on side with her recommendations, particularly as open drug use in playgrounds, parks and city sidewalks led to calls to walk back the decriminalization experiment. Lapointe had also called for safer supply drugs to be provided without a prescription, a recommendation swiftly rejected by the government. Health Minister Josie Osborne announced last month a stricter approach, requiring people who use prescription opioids to take them under the supervision of a pharmacist. Lapointe retired in February, vocal about her frustration at how polarized and political the debate over drug policy had become. She told CBC's The Current she left the job angry at the "lackadaisical" response to the toxic drugs crisis. Baidwain says he will let the data around overdose deaths speak for itself. B.C.'s low autopsy rates She died in her bedroom in Port Coquitlam in the summer of 2022 from an overdose. The coroner's report concluded the teen's death was caused by cocaine and MDMA use, although there were other drugs in her system, including hydromorphone — a medication prescribed under B.C.'s safer supply program. Sword was convinced the hydromorphone in her system was downplayed as a cause of death. While Baidwan couldn't speak specifically to Kamilah's case, he said an autopsy would not have made a difference in understanding the cause of death. However, Baidwan says autopsies are incredibly invasive, and often, the coroners service can get the answers they're looking for without one. Families frustrated by B.C.'s low autopsy rate 1 year ago Duration 6:30 "In the world of CSI, we think an autopsy will give us all the answers. Sadly, it doesn't." B.C. has one of the lowest autopsy rates in the country. A rate that has declined steadily from 22 per cent in 1991 to 3.2 per cent in 2022, according to Statistics Canada. However, Baidwan says those figures are misleading because they do not include autopsies performed in the health system — when someone dies in hospital, for example — which makes up about 10 per cent of deaths. Baidwan is advocating for more coroners to be hired, as the number of deaths each year in B.C. grows due to the aging and growing population. "We've continually hired more coroners over the last few years. And the government has been supportive in allowing us to hire the right number of people."
CBC
18-02-2025
- Health
- CBC
B.C. physicians' group calls on province to create space in hospitals for overdose prevention
An independent group of physicians on Vancouver Island is renewing calls for B.C.s Ministry of Health to make good on a promise to create space for overdose prevention at acute care facilities. An unsanctioned overdose prevention site has been set up near the Royal Jubilee Hospital in Victoria, where volunteers with experience in recognizing and responding to drug overdoses will be on hand. Among those at the site will be B.C.'s former chief coroner, Lisa Lapointe, who has long advocated for more harm reduction for people who use substances. "We are still losing five or six people every single day of every week of every month. Anything we can do to address the harms, to reduce the deaths, I am wholeheartedly in support of, and that includes this pop-up overdose prevention site," LaPointe told CBC's On The Island host Gregor Craigie. "If [our team] saves one life today, that would be absolutely fantastic." In November, the group tried to set up overdose prevention sites at hospitals in Victoria and Nanaimo but were met by security and forced to move their sites off the properties. Data from the B.C. Coroners Service shows 2,253 people were killed by unregulated drugs in 2024. Since a public health emergency was declared in 2016 in relation to increasing drug-related deaths, more than 16,000 British Columbians have been killed by toxic drugs. Dr. Ryan Herriot, founder of Doctors for Safer Drug Policy and a local family and addictions physician, said overdose prevention sites reduce drug debris such as needles and pipes and improve workplace safety for nurses. "These services are absolutely necessary," he said. LaPointe said people who use substances need to be hospitalized for reasons unrelated to their substance use, and it's important for them to have access to those substances so they don't leave the hospital and end treatment. That's where overdose prevention sites on hospital property come in, she said. "We've seen what happens to people who don't finish a course of treatment," she said. "Those are some of the people that we see ill on our streets. We want people to feel safe to remain in hospital. "It is safe. It will save lives." Province developing 'minimum service standards' According to a news release from the province in October, more than 50 overdose prevention sites are located throughout B.C. In the statement, the province said it would be "improving access to overdose prevention services that offer observed inhalation services in communities hardest hit by the drug-poisoning crisis." During a media scrum on Tuesday, Health Minister Josie Osborne said the province wants people who use drugs to be safe but also wants to consider the safety of those working in hospital settings. She said the province is developing "minimum service standards" for overdose prevention sites. "I think everybody wants to do the right thing here," Osborne said. B.C.'s auditor general released a report one year ago detailing the deficiencies in the province's overdose prevention programs. The audit found the ministries' guidance didn't include minimum service standards that ensured consistent quality and access to services. But Herriot says service standards are being met. "The Minister of Health, Josie Osborne, continues to insist in her public comments that the work has been held up due to the need for 'minimum service standards,' as if the work previously done by Island Health was not done to a high standard, a notion that we reject," he said. "A similar site has been operating highly effectively at a Vancouver hospital since 2018, and that when one is dealing with a public health emergency, there is an urgent need to act that transcends usual bureaucratic processes." CBC News has also reached out to Island Health for comment but has not received a response. Herriot said his group will continue to push for life-saving services.
