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.

Sue Brown, a lawyer for Justice for Girls, said "the investigations into all three of these girls' disappearances and suspicious deaths were wrought with missteps, failures, and neglect."

"The role of the coroner is essential to the administration of justice. The public must be able to put faith in their investigations and findings. This latest information seriously calls our ability to do that into question".

Since 2022, 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.

In a statement, Garry Begg, minister of public safety and solicitor general, called the deaths "a tragedy," and highlighted that Indigenous women and girls face higher rates of violence than other women in Canada.

"Families expect that everyone involved in investigations like these works hard to get justice for those who died too soon. It's crucial that we can trust the integrity and actions of the officers doing these heartbreaking investigations. I have received a request for a coroner's inquest from the families of these young women and this is something that my office is looking into," the statement read in part.

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 Brown 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."

Matthew Orde, the forensic pathologist who conducted the independent review, said in an email "following careful review of the Coroner's report, the autopsy report, assorted photographs, the toxicology report, and microscope slides prepared from tissues which were sampled at autopsy, it is my opinion that the cause of Tatyanna's tragic and untimely death sadly remains undetermined."

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 said Monday a rape kit has still not been processed.

"I expected the coroner to present me with facts based on science and medical knowledge. That did not happen for my daughter," she said on Monday.

"These are basic human rights that everybody else gets. So I don't understand why this isn't given to my daughter, why I have to fight to get a proper coroners report."

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 neighbourhood. 

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. 

"Why would they treat my daughter different than anybody else? [...] Is it because of the the way that she looked? Was it because she was First Nation?," she told reporters Monday.

"My daughter deserves more than what she's gotten so far and which is absolutely nothing."

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.

"I can say without a doubt that she was failed at every level by this country, by this government, by child welfare, by the Vancouver police, by the RCMP," said Josie August, a relative of O'Soup's who has acted as a spokesperson for the family.

"So a proper coroner's investigation would be a step in the right direction for her family to move forward."

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.