Quiet reflection at UBCO to remember Harmandeep Kaur

Over a hundred people attended a vigil at UBCO campus Friday afternoon for Harmandeep Kaur, the 24-year-old woman who was assaulted last week and later died from her injuries.

Friends, students and colleagues gathered outside the University Centre building where she was attacked and laid flowers or lit candles.

A table was set up where people could sign messages and there were spiritual leaders and mental health clinicians on hand.

The somber event started with time to quietly reflect on the tragic circumstances of Harmandeep’s death.

Later there was a traditional Sikh prayer.

A funeral service will be held in Squamish Saturday and will be broadcast live. A link can be found on the Okanagan Sikh Temple’s Facebook page.

Harmandeep was working the night shift as a security guard at UBCO on Saturday when she was assaulted by someone working on campus.

Kaur was sent to hospital with life-threatening injuries and Kelowna RCMP announced Monday she had succumbed to those injuries. Her attacker was apprehended under the Mental Health Act. Charges have yet to be laid.

The 24-year-old’s family has arrived in Canada from India and a funeral is set for Saturday in Squamish.

According to an online fundraiser, Kaur came to Canada in 2015 with the dream of furthering her education by attending university and eventually becoming a paramedic.

Her death prompted calls from local politicians for greater mental health care infrastructure in Kelowna.

That was echoed at the provincial level Thursday by Premier John Horgan. During a routine press briefing, Horgan extended his “deepest condolences” to the family and acknowledged the need for more “comprehensive, complex care” for those who “quite frankly shouldn’t be in the community.”

He said several facilities offering these services are set to come online soon, admitting it is “high time we started building complex care so we can house individuals that have serious mental health challenges.”