IIO Investigating the March 2026 Death of a Woman in Burnaby (2026-064)

Case: 2026-064 Incident Date: March 18, 2026 Location: Burnaby Detachment: Burnaby Agency: RCMP Incident Classification: Death Case Status: Open - Investigation in Progress

INFORMATION BULLETIN
Independent Investigations Office
For Immediate Release

Surrey, B.C. — The Independent Investigations Office of BC (IIO) is investigating the death of a woman that occurred in Burnaby on March 18, 2026.

Shortly after 2 p.m., the Burnaby RCMP was contacted by health authority officials to conduct a wellness check on a woman living in a residential building.

An officer responded to the address, gained access to the woman’s unit and located her unresponsive inside.

She was later taken by an ambulance to a hospital where she was pronounced deceased the following day.

The IIO was notified three days after the incident and has commenced an investigation.

There are two factors that the IIO considers at the beginning of each investigation:

  1. If there has been an injury that meets the threshold of serious harm, as defined by the Police Act, or a death; and
  2. If there is a connection between the serious harm/death and officer action or inaction.

If both conditions are met, the investigation will continue to examine all available evidence to determine what occurred. At the conclusion of the investigation, the chief civilian director will consider whether there are reasonable grounds to believe that an offence may have occurred.

The IIO asks that any witnesses who have information regarding this matter to please contact the IIO at our Witness Line toll-free at 1-855-446-8477 or via the contact form on the iiobc.ca website.

Background

The IIO is the independent civilian oversight agency of officers and detention guards in British Columbia. It investigates all incidents involving officers or detention guards that result in serious harm or death, whether or not there is any allegation of wrongdoing.
info@iiobc.ca

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