Wendy Kitt was gregarious, outgoing and opinionated. She was spirited, passionate and independent. She had moved to Agassiz to work as a senior鈥檚 care aide and according to her mother, was trying to get help to deal with addiction.
These are the things that defined the 35-year-old woman, and not her battle with mental illness. But her mother, Lyn Firth, fears her lifestyle might be the reason her daughter鈥檚 body was in a morgue for a month before her family even knew she had died.
Last summer, Firth and Kitt had been talking every day about finding resources to help Kitt get clean.
鈥淪he was just at the end of her rope,鈥� says Firth. 鈥淪he didn鈥檛 know what else to do and I saw the hopelessness in her.鈥�
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One day in late July, Kitt suddenly stopped responding to her mother鈥檚 calls and texts.
Firth started looking for any trace of what happened to her on the internet. Regular searches revealed nothing.
A month later, she discovered her daughter鈥檚 obituary.
It detailed nothing more than her date of birth and date of death 鈥� a month before. 鈥淣o service requested,鈥� it said.
鈥淚 thought it was a joke,鈥� Firth recalls. 鈥淚t was just the coldest, harshest, thing.鈥�
Firth called the mortuary and was told she would have to wait two days to speak to the appropriate person.
鈥淚 find my daughter鈥檚 dead online. She鈥檚 been in a morgue for a month and they鈥檙e telling me, 鈥榊ou have to wait until Tuesday.鈥�
鈥淪he would have laid there for another month and then been cremated and interred in a cemetery in Surrey if I hadn鈥檛 found her. And we would never have known.鈥�
A history of adversity
Kitt was a strong, independent person, her mother recalls.
鈥淪he really had a lot of potential. The issues she was dealing with 鈥� mental health and addiction-wise 鈥� really prevented her from achieving what she really wanted to achieve in her life.鈥�
Firth believes her daughter suffered from mental health issues her entire life, but was never treated.
鈥淪he did see a psychiatrist, she did see counsellors, they recognize that she has a problem, but what鈥檚 the next step? Unless you have a hefty bank roll, then she鈥檚 kind of left on her own.鈥�
As a teenager, Kitt got into a relationship that led her to heroin. 鈥淲e did the best we could given the skills we had,鈥� says Firth. 鈥淎s she got older, those turbulent teenage years start. That鈥檚 really when the [addiction] started.鈥�
鈥淏y the time we recognized that she really had a problem that needed intervention, it was too late. She鈥檚 an adult.鈥�
鈥楴o service requested鈥�
With the help of her partner, who is a private investigator and former RCMP officer, Firth learned Kitt had died after ingesting methamphetamine laced with carfentanil.
She believes her daughter had bought the drugs in Agassiz and died in the home where she worked as a live-in senior鈥檚 care aide.
She also believes authorities would have been handled Kitt鈥檚 death differently if she had died of another cause.
鈥淚t was so shocking to find this obituary online. I was so enraged,鈥� she says. 鈥淗ow could this possibly happen? That you鈥檙e treating my daughter like a piece of garbage.鈥�
When she asked the police why she wasn鈥檛 notified when Kitt died, she says she was told, 鈥淚t鈥檚 just our system, our system broke down.鈥� She says they also told her it was not because of Kitt鈥檚 鈥渓ifestyle,鈥� using Firth鈥檚 word.
鈥淓ven if it is the system, the way this has played out, because of your lack of care and attention, just feeds directly into the stigma around people that have mental health [issues] and addictions,鈥� Firth says.
Kitt had multiple pieces of ID in the purse that was collected at the time of her death, says Firth. 鈥淚t鈥檚 pretty shocking that their process is so broken that they can鈥檛 find a next of kin that was actually on a piece of paper.鈥�
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The Observer contacted multiple people at the BC RCMP and received a statement from communication services.
鈥漌e are aware of the concerns raised by the Kitt family, and we continue to work directly with them,鈥� it reads. 鈥淲e have expressed our regret to the family for the failure of process which resulted in the delay in the notification of Wendy鈥檚 death. We will continue to provide guidance to our officers to reduce the chance of this type of delay occurring again.鈥�
They declined to comment on the process they follow to notify a deceased person鈥檚 next of kin.
Firth says she wasn鈥檛 satisfied with the 鈥榚xpression of regret鈥� the police provided her.
鈥淭he situation around how the police treated my daughter is kind of unforgivable,鈥� she says. 鈥淚鈥檓 not asking them for an internal investigation, I鈥檝e simply asked for an apology. And I鈥檓 still waiting.鈥�
Turning grief into action
Firth says she can either collapse into grief or use it to make a difference.
While she believes the RCMP failed her daughter, she doesn鈥檛 point her finger at one cause.
鈥淭he bigger picture here is that there鈥檚 multiple systems involved in what happened to my daughter, and they all failed.鈥�
She says it鈥檚 an opportunity to get people talking about a lack of effective care for people with mental health and addiction issues.
She encourages parents to visit the 鈥檚 website, and sign a petition for better mental health resources in B.C.
鈥淛ust sitting here blaming is not going to help,鈥� Firth says. 鈥淭urning the grief into action and actually taking some steps to make sure that all of the other Wendys out there have a better chance.鈥�
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