‘I just want to know what happened’: Inquest into Indigenous woman’s death opens with mother’s testimony

A coroner’s inquest into the death of a young Indigenous woman in Metro Vancouver began Thursday, four years after her body was found.

Four years after the remains of a 20-year-old Indigenous woman were found on a dry-docked yacht in Richmond, her mother is still seeking answers.

“I just want to know what happened to her,” said Natasha Harrison, who gave gut-wrenching, tearful testimony Thursday to begin the coroner’s inquest into her daughter Tatyanna Harrison’s death.

She said police informed her Tatyanna’s death was not considered suspicious, despite her being found naked from the waist down.

An early coroner’s report attributed her death to fentanyl toxicity, but it was later determined to have been caused by sepsis.

‘Never fought so hard for someone’

Harrison said she was 18 years old when she had her daughter, whom she raised on her own.

She said Tatyanna was a bubbly, adventurous and compassionate child, but after being molested at the age of 12, things changed.

Harrison said she struggled to stay afloat financially while also doing everything she could to help her daughter, who ultimately ended up in ministry care, though her mother remained a part of her life.

Harrison said her daughter began using methamphetamine and other drugs by the age of 14 and would often go missing.

She recalled often leaving work mid-shift to go track her down.

“I’ve never fought so hard for someone in my life,” she said.

Harrison said Tatyanna got clean from drugs for a while in her late teens but ultimately started using again during the COVID-19 pandemic and eventually ended up in the Downtown Eastside.

‘As a mom, I was desperate’

After not hearing from her for a while, Harrison became worried and reported her daughter missing to the Vancouver Police Department on May 3, 2022.

Little did she know Tatyanna’s body had been found a day earlier on the Richmond boat, but Harrison said the sketch and description later released by police were so inaccurate that she thought there was no chance it was Tatyanna.

The description given was of a woman aged 30 to 40 who was five-foot-five and weighed 90 pounds. Harrison said her daughter was five-foot-one, weighed at least 100 pounds and, of course, was just 20 years old. She said the picture also looked nothing like her.

She continued a gruelling months-long search in one of Canada’s most dangerous neighbourhoods.

“That feeling in my stomach that my daughter was there was mortifying,” said Harrison.

“As a mom I was desperate, I don’t think I realized the danger I was in,” she said.

Harrison said she had lost most of her family to drug addiction and was determined not to let that happen to her daughter.

“Tat was my only family,” she said.

Police misconduct

Harrison has been critical of the police response, saying she was essentially running an investigation on her own.

“She was failed throughout her whole life, and the end was no exception.”

In February, the Office of the Police Complaint Commissioner found that two Vancouver police officers—whose names have not been made public—committed misconduct during their response to Harrison’s disappearance.

Harrison was the first of 18 witnesses scheduled to testify at the coroner’s inquest, which is expected to conclude late next week.

In addition to making recommendations, juries in coroner’s inquests can make a verdict classifying a death as accidental, natural, suicide or homicide, but they cannot assign blame.

Some of the officers involved in the investigation are scheduled to testify Friday.

If you or someone you know is struggling with sexual assault or trauma, the following resources are available to support people in crisis:

• Call 911 if you are in immediate danger or fear for your safety.
• The Canadian Association of Sexual Assault Centres' website has a comprehensive list of sexual assault centres in Canada that offer information, advocacy and counselling.
• The Ending Violence Association of Canada‘s website has links to helplines, support services and locations across Canada that offer sexual assault kits.
• Indian Residential School Survivors Society crisis lines: [phone] or [phone] (24/7)
• Canadian Human Trafficking Hotline: [phone] (24/7)
• Trans Lifeline: [phone]
• Suicide Crisis Helpline: call or text 988 (24/7)
• Sexual Misconduct Support and Resource Centre for current and former Canadian Armed Forces members: [phone]
• Read about your rights as a victim on the Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime website.