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The B.C. coroner’s inquest into the death of Tatyanna Harrison heard evidence Wednesday about why her missing person file was transferred from the Vancouver Police Department to Surrey RCMP and then back to the VPD in a span of three weeks.
Tatyanna Harrison was found dead, naked from the waist down and without identification on a drydocked yacht in Richmond on May 2, 2022, but it took three months for police and the coroner to identify the body as that of the missing 20-year-old Indigenous woman.
Her mother, Natasha Harrison, reported Tatyanna missing the day after the body was found, along with information that Tatyanna was intending to move from Surrey to Vancouver according to last time they had communicated.
The Vancouver police missing persons unit received the file on May 4, 2022, but sent it to Surrey RCMP the following day because Surrey was the jurisdiction where police had last seen Tatyanna, albeit three months earlier.
The file was returned to the VPD on May 24, 2022, after police learned Harrison had been staying at a shelter on Terminal Avenue in Vancouver.
“It was apparent that the missing was last seen in Vancouver,” testified Det. Dave Jakeway, acting officer in charge of the VPD Missing Persons Unit at the time. “We advised Surrey to close their report.”
Jakeway testified that similar to Richmond RCMP investigators and Investigating Coroner Cynthia Hogan, he and his VPD colleagues did not think that the photos of Tatyanna Harrison looked anything like the unidentified woman on the boat, and dismissed the deceased as a possible match.
Flowers left on the yacht were Tatyanna Harrison’s body was found. (B.C. Coroners Service)
“The consensus was that there were too many dissimilarities,” he said. “It was a good try because I think we were close. It wasn’t until later that I found out they were one and the same.“
Jakeway said the photos police had of Tatyanna Harrison were from five years before she went missing.
Natasha Harrison testified earlier that as her daughter’s missing person file bounced between police agencies, she was left to search for Tatyanna by herself in Vancouver’s Downtown Eastside.
She also claims that police failed to properly investigate the circumstance that led to Tatyanna being found dead on the yacht.
The inquest heard evidence Wednesday about a VPD media release published the day after Tatyanna Harrison was positively identified that stated her cause of death as drug toxicity. The release was never updated to reflect that an autopsy four years ago found she died of sepsis.
Richmond RCMP sketches of the woman who was found deceased on the boat. (B.C. Coroners Service)
According to Inquest Counsel Rolf Warburton, the release with the inaccurate cause of death remained on the VPD website until Wednesday of this week.
“I can only say that it’s an oversight that appears to be based on the initial information that was provided and obviously that information changed,” testified VPD Insp. Duane van Beek. “When I found out about last night, I asked our public affairs folks to remove it from our website.”
The drydocked boat in Richmond where the body of Tatyanna Harrison was found. (B.C. Coroners Service)
In other notable testimony, Lucie Vallieres, director of standards and training with the provincial policing and security branch, told the inquest she only became aware the Office of the Police Complaints Commissioner had issued recommended changes to missing person investigation standards through a group advocating on behalf of Natasha Harrison.
The recommendations were issued in November of last year, at the same time an OPCC investigation found two VPD sergeants committed misconduct by failing to classify Tatyanna Harrison as a high risk missing person.
“I think we’ve identified a clear gap in communication between various agencies in the province,” said Warburton during his questioning of Vallieres.
“[The] recommendations go directly to your role and responsibility, your unit’s role and responsibility as the guardian or overseer of these standards,” he said.
In an email to CBC News, the OPCC said it provided a copy of the recommendations to the Director of Policing and Law Enforcement Services on Jan. 29, 2026.
The inquest has now finished hearing from witnesses. On Thursday, the five-woman jury will begin deliberations before presenting recommendations.