Call to reopen Tatyanna Harrison death investigation after cause ruled undetermined

VANCOUVER — The mother of Tatyanna Harrison and advocacy groups including the Union of British Columbia Indian Chiefs are calling for the reopening of an investigation into the young woman’s disappearance and death four years ago.

The calls come after a B.C. coroner’s inquest last week found the 20-year-old Indigenous woman’s cause of death on May 1, 2022, was undetermined, which the groups say conflicted with previous findings of the coroner’s service.

“I am grateful for the jury, but those recommendations — you missed a lot there,” her mother Natasha Harrison told a news conference on Monday.

She said the investigations into her daughter’s disappearance and death were “built on assumptions.”

“I have lost complete faith in the way the systems run. I’ve lost complete faith in the police. I have lost complete faith in the coroner.”

Tatyanna Harrison’s body was found on a drydocked yacht in Richmond, B.C., and the groups say that while she was naked from the waist down, RCMP did not deem the death suspicious.

“I would like my daughter’s case properly investigated by someone who wants to do it, somebody who cares,” Harrison told the news conference.

She said she strongly advocated for a second autopsy and to have tests done on a sexual assault kit, which was collected six months after her daughter’s body was found. Those kits were never tested, she said.

“I want proof that my daughter wasn’t trafficked, I want proof that she wasn’t murdered. That’s it. That’s all I’ve asked for, that’s all I stood by,” Harrison said.

Sue Brown, who is legal counsel for Natasha Harrison, said the case needs to be reviewed in light of the findings, and that the coroner’s service got it wrong by initially attributing the death to drug toxicity, then to sepsis.

Brown said the unanswered questions include how Harrison got to Richmond, with whom, and most importantly, how she died.

She said policies guiding RCMP death investigations are clear in that “all reportable deaths be treated as suspicious and thoroughly investigated.”

“I think assumptions were made early on and they didn’t follow their policy and I think we’d like to see them follow their policy,” she said on Monday.

The coroner’s jury issued eight recommendations to police and officials, including that the government review policing standards to ensure adequate training in cases of missing persons, and to include Indigenous liaison officers in missing persons units.

Brown’s group, Justice for Girls, as well as the union and the BC Civil Liberties Association are supporting Natasha Harrison’s call for the investigation to be renewed.

Brown said there were no recommendations from the jury on the issues surrounding the RCMP death investigation or to the coroner.

“We are therefore calling on the minister of public safety and solicitor general to direct a review into the missteps and failures by all agencies involved in the death investigation about what happened to Tatyanna Harrison, particularly the death investigation, and to renew investigative efforts to bring answers to her family and restore public trust in law enforcement and our investigative institutions,” she said.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 13, 2026.

Brieanna Charlebois, The Canadian Press