A candlelight vigil was held in a Surrey park Saturday evening to honour a young Indian woman found murdered in a home early last week.
Prabhleen Matharu, a 21-year-old former international student, was found dead along with another body, who police identified as an 18-year-old man from the Lower Mainland.
Dozens of advocates and other international students lit candles in Holland Park surrounded by pictures of Matharu in an effort to bring the community together and raise awareness of her tragic end.
“Somebody’s daughter died,” Rajpreet Sohal said. “It makes me sad that she couldn’t fulfill her aspirations.”
Sohal is a director for One Voice Canada, an international student advocacy non-profit that organized the vigil. He said he routinely hears concerns from students about mental health and exploitation, but Matharu’s murder has only intensified their fears.
“These students are in a different country and they don’t feel comfortable to speak up,” he said. “We want everyone to come up here and let them know we’re here to help you, the government is here to help you.”
Police have said Matharu was the victim of a homicide, and they are not looking for any other suspects.
Matharu’s father Gurdial Singh told Global News this week that police have told him the 18-year-old took his own life. Investigators have not publicly labelled his death a suicide, only saying he was not murdered.
One Voice founder Dupinder Saran said it’s important to address issues surrounding suicide, violence against women and mental health in the international student community.
She pointed to the organization’s women empowerment team, which focuses on ensuring women can come forward with any issues they may be having.
“International students know how hard life can be, especially when you’re away from your family or support group,” Saran said.
“Coming to an entirely different country, and not having that same support and kind of feeling lost at first … that’s what makes this important and so close to our heart.”
Saran said the incident has also raised concerns among parents who are having second thoughts about sending their children abroad to study in Canada.
“Many people are very hurt by this. They want this kind of violence to end, whether it’s youth here or youth coming from elsewhere,” she said.
“Parents are very concerned about the safety of their children, and it’s very frightening now to see that anything can happen.”
The Integrated Homicide Investigation Team (IHIT) has declined to share further information about the case.
IHIT said Monday that it would not release the names of the 18-year-old victim “as there is no investigative need to do so.”
Matharu’s father has said he heard from her friends that he was a white man who knew his daughter and had mutual friends with her.
The family said Matharu’s funeral is set to be held in their home in the Punjab village of Chitti in India after her body is sent back to the country next week.
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