Labour board investigation finds no violations in 2024 Walmart oven death

CITYnews halifax / By Chris Halef

The Department of Labour concluded its investigation into the death of a Walmart employee in 2024, saying it found no violations.

In October 2024, an employee, Gursimran Kaur, 19, at the Walmart on Mumford Road was found dead inside a walk-in oven in the store’s bakery.

The province said it conducted an extensive investigation into workplace conditions and investigators determined the oven was in proper working order at the time of the incident, adding no safety violations were identified that could have contributed to the worker’s death.

According to the province, investigators found no broader safety concerns associated with the type of oven.

“Our thoughts remain with the worker’s family, friends and co-workers as they continue to cope with this tragic loss,” said Nolan Young, Minister of Labour, Skills and Immigration. “Our responsibility is to understand what happened, determine whether safety requirements were met and use those findings to support future prevention efforts.”

Related:

• Nearly $200K raised to support family of woman who died at Halifax Walmart
• Halifax Regional Police release more details on death of woman at Walmart
• Halifax Walmart reopens more than 3 months after in-store death of employee

The Department of Labour went on to say it will continue to engage with and support the family as part of the investigative process.

Through its investigation, Halifax Regional Police said that her death was not suspicious.

A Sikh organization was the first to confirm that Kaur’s body was found by her mother, who had worked with her daughter at the Mumford Road store for about two years. The Maritime Sikh Society says Kaur, a Sikh woman originally from India, had immigrated to Canada with her mother.

Gursimran Kaur is the 19-year-old woman who was found dead in a Halifax Walmart. (GoFundMe)

The society issued a statement last month saying that on the night of Oct. 19, the mother became frantic after her daughter failed to answer her phone during the Saturday night shift. The mother, whose name was not released, eventually opened the bakery oven and found her daughter’s burned body, the statement said.

She was “a young beautiful girl who came to Canada with big dreams,” the society said on an online fundraising page.

A Halifax Walmart has reopened this week more than three months after a 19-year-old woman was found dead inside the store’s walk-in bakery oven. The store is shown on Wednesday, Oct. 23, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese