Canada - Gursimran Kaur, 19, Walmart worker found dead inside bakery oven - October 22, 2024

[Luna20]

They removed the oven, it was scheduled to be replaced in their current remodel anyway but they have made a point of letting ppl know that oven would not be used there again.

Do you have a link for this?
Re: removal, replaced and remodeled

 

[Luna20]

Maybe the oven was on a timer for self-cleaning. Who knows. The question is - why did her mother know to check the oven? Was this not the first time her daughter was in it?
Bizarre way to die!

That is my biggest question. I would check the bathrooms, break rooms, lunch rooms, stock rooms, deli, pharmacy, automotive, garden centers, parking lot and surrounding outside areas before going to an oven.

Maybe the mother did check all of those places before looking in the oven. I don’t know if I would even think to check the oven before a last resort. Maybe she had an affinity for baking and liked to hang around there on her breaks.

Something had to make her mother look there. I don’t recall anything firmly being said about the cameras yet but we know that WM has looked at every angle to draw information from.

 

[Lexiintoronto]

Do you have a link for this?
Re: removal, replaced and remodeled

‘The commercial bakery oven where a 19-year-old woman was found dead in a Halifax Walmart is being removed, the company has said.[…]
The company said removing the oven had always been part of a standard remodel program being implemented across the country.’

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7376731

 

[Luna20]

‘The commercial bakery oven where a 19-year-old woman was found dead in a Halifax Walmart is being removed, the company has said.[…]
The company said removing the oven had always been part of a standard remodel program being implemented across the country.’

https://www.cbc.ca/amp/1.7376731

Thank you. I missed this article.

 

[sunspun]

That is my biggest question. I would check the bathrooms, break rooms, lunch rooms, stock rooms, deli, pharmacy, automotive, garden centers, parking lot and surrounding outside areas before going to an oven.

Maybe the mother did check all of those places before looking in the oven. I don’t know if I would even think to check the oven before a last resort. Maybe she had an affinity for baking and liked to hang around there on her breaks.

Something had to make her mother look there. I don’t recall anything firmly being said about the cameras yet but we know that WM has looked at every angle to draw information from.

I would page her name first, and if she didn't answer the page, honestly, I would assume she LEFT the store! I'd start calling her home and her friends... I'd keep paging her in the store, but really, if she didn't answer the page, I'd assume she was not in the store. I would not think she was dead or incapacitated somewhere still inside the store where no one could see her. Sadly, that's exactly what it was though.

 

[Charlot123]

I cant find anything linking self immolation to sikhism

I was thinking about "suicide by jumping into fire" in India, not Sikhism per se. The people who come to mind were second-generation Indian immigrants. I think one could even guess what pushed them to choose such a painful death, but I am bothered that Kaur had no option to change their mind and open the door.

 

[ChatteringBirds]

I am bothered that Kaur had no option to change their mind and open the door.

Isn't that still unclear -- whether she knew how to exit the oven and whether the emergency release was working properly?

 

[Charlot123]

Isn't that still unclear -- whether she knew how to exit the oven and whether the emergency release was working properly?

Well, LE issuing the statement "no one involved" and saying that it will be the final statement, we may never know or find out. Very sad.

 

[Chimera]

I was thinking about "suicide by jumping into fire" in India, not Sikhism per se. The people who come to mind were second-generation Indian immigrants. I think one could even guess what pushed them to choose such a painful death, but I am bothered that Kaur had no option to change their mind and open the door.

I was under the impression that the oven could be opened from the inside ?
And, I was more interested in the security footage from inside the bakery area.
Assuming Gursimran was alone, how was she acting ?
Afraid of someone ?
Etc.
Omo.

 

[No_Stone_Unturned]

I'm assuming it's case closed now.

 

[Deleted member 296739]

I'm assuming it's case closed now.

That’s what it’s looking like, at least to us, if no further updates will be forthcoming

 

[Lexiintoronto]

I'm assuming it's case closed now.

The Department of Labour is still investigating, so maybe they’ll find an answer. Or at least some clues if they make any safety suggestions.

The family or Sikh Society might also comment if they feel there is an issue to be addressed, imo. But if they choose privacy I’d completely understand.

 

[Dre]

This feels like a "we need to tamp down the fear and rumor mill" type of move from LE.
I don't think this series of events could have been accidental, at all.
The idea of waiting in an oven for a SLOW and AGONIZING death is wild, baking would NOT be like burning in a fire.
And if true (I have my doubts) that would mean to me that she was in such immense emotional pain that she wanted her mother and others at the store to feel the trauma of her death forever. JMO

 

[Ceedee]

I

That’s what it’s looking like, at least to us, if no further updates will be forthcoming

I think there will be updates (and potentially consequences) from the Department of Labour, but those investigations tend to be slow.

I was a juror on a Coroner’s Inquest for a job site workplace death in Ontario, which are mandatory here in cases of deaths related to construction employment, and I wondered if Nova Scotia handles it similarly. Per their own criteria, there’s a strong possibility there will eventually be one in this case:

Following an investigation by a medical examiner, a fatality inquiry may be recommended by the Chief Medical Examiner to the Minister of Justice, in which case an inquiry becomes mandatory. The Minister may call an inquiry if it is determined one is needed in the public interest or the interest of public safety.

Deaths that occur in health-care facilities, custody or detention centres, deaths related to employment or occupation or those that occur unexpectedly when a person is in good health, when a person is not under the care of a physician, where the cause of death is undetermined or as the result of improper or suspected negligent treatment by a person are all reportable to a medical examiner and can be the subject of a fatality inquiry.

Fatality Inquiries | The Courts of Nova Scotia

If/when there is one, there are likely be public details from it. In the one I was a juror on, it was several years (ETA: I just checked my email and it was 7) after the man had died because the Ministry of Labour investigation and other legal processes had to play out before it was scheduled.

 

[abyquinn]

Do you have a link for this?
Re: removal, replaced and remodeled

Yes. This was from the articles posted here. This Walmart was/is undergoing remodel at the time of her death/currently. Early on WM made a statement that the oven was going to be replaced as part of the remodel. They have since said this was done. Look at the links with statements from Walmart.

 

[Deleted member 296739]

I

I think there will be updates (and potentially consequences) from the Department of Labour, but those investigations tend to be slow.

I was a juror on a Coroner’s Inquest for a job site workplace death in Ontario, which are mandatory in cases of deaths related to construction employment, and I wondered if Nova Scotia handles it similarly. Per their own criteria, there’s a strong possibility there will eventually be one in this case:

Following an investigation by a medical examiner, a fatality inquiry may be recommended by the Chief Medical Examiner to the Minister of Justice, in which case an inquiry becomes mandatory. The Minister may call an inquiry if it is determined one is needed in the public interest or the interest of public safety.

Deaths that occur in health-care facilities, custody or detention centres, deaths related to employment or occupation or those that occur unexpectedly when a person is in good health, when a person is not under the care of a physician, where the cause of death is undetermined or as the result of improper or suspected negligent treatment by a person are all reportable to a medical examiner and can be the subject of a fatality inquiry.

Fatality Inquiries | The Courts of Nova Scotia

If/when there is one, there are likely be public details from it. In the one I was a juror on, it was several years after the man had died because the Ministry of Labour investigation and other legal processes had to play out before it was scheduled.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and experiences- very helpful

 

[No_Stone_Unturned]

Refuse to release details

Halifax police say Walmart employee's death isn't suspicious, refuse to release details

Police in Halifax say the death of a Walmart employee who was found inside an oven in the store last month is not suspicious, but they are refusing to release any additional details.

atlantic.ctvnews.ca

 

[abyquinn]

This feels like a "we need to tamp down the fear and rumor mill" type of move from LE.
I don't think this series of events could have been accidental, at all.
The idea of waiting in an oven for a SLOW and AGONIZING death is wild, baking would NOT be like burning in a fire.
And if true (I have my doubts) that would mean to me that she was in such immense emotional pain that she wanted her mother and others at the store to feel the trauma of her death forever. JMO

<modsnip>

I also thought her mother getting so upset over not hearing from her daughter for an hour while she was at work was odd. One of the articles even said the other employees blew her mother off at first. Mother eventually got a supervisor to help look, which at some point led to another employee noticing leakage from the oven. Her mother then opened the door and found Simran. I’m shocked that they let her mother be the one to open the oven door. But I’m sure everyone involved was in shock by this point.

 

[Chimera]

@abyquinn : Link ?
Some of your info. was new to me.
Thanks in advance.

 

[otto]

Was she working all by herself at that time ?
Still have some questions.
Omo.

I haven't read anything stating that she worked in the bakery. That's why no one looked for her in the oven until her mother thought of it. That's my understanding at this time.

She was 19 years old and probably did not have formal training as a baker or pastry chef. There doesn't seem to be any explanation for why she was in the oven.