Fallen RCMP officer Const. Shaelyn Yang was remembered fondly and warmly at her funeral Wednesday.
“Shaelyn Yang was always a hero,” Ash Tan, cousin and family spokesperson told the audience.
“Her whole life was dedicated to helping others — from the community she served, to those in need, to her cousin going through a tough time in their first year of university.
“All of us, all her family and friends who loved her, and have been so proud of her. We’ve always known this. And now, all of Canada and Taiwan and the whole world can join us in knowing it too.”
Yang had faith she could make the world a better place, despite facing adversity, Tan said.
“But in all the time I knew her, she only ever grew warmer and kinder than before.”
Tan said everything Yang did was defined by her empathy and her compassion.
“She helped everyone she could because she had faith in them,” he said. “She had faith that we, each and every one of us could make this world a better place.”
Yang was killed on Oct. 18 while accompanying a parks employee to speak with a man living in a tent in Burnaby’s Broadview Park.
Const. Inder Gill, a colleague of Yang’s, said he couldn’t believe he was standing at a podium talking about his friend’s death.
He called Oct. 18 the “worst day of my life.”
Yang joined the RCMP in December 2019 and Gill was tasked with overseeing some of the training.
“This formed the basis of our work family,” he said. “Our family that has grown and a family that I love and has grown so close to my heart and a family that Shaelyn was the heart of.”
Gill said Yang was a natural officer.
“She believed in helping others and showed this remarkably while working as a member of the Burnaby Mental Health Unit and the Proactive Support Response Unit,” he added.
Yang becomes the 247th member of the RCMP killed in the line of duty since 1873. The RCMP’s precursor, the North-West Mounted Police, was founded on May 23, 1873.
Family friend Jamie Simpson spoke a little about Yang’s family life, saying she married her wife in February 2020 and built a life together.
They adopted a puppy together.
“Let me start by saying it’s an honour to have known Shay and it’s an honour to speak to you on behalf of (Shay’s wife’s) family,” Simpson.
He said Yang listened a lot and while she was often the quietest in the room, her presence was always felt.
“Shay never drew attention to herself but she was the kind of person you wanted to know more about,” Simpson added.
“Shay preferred the rain. She was cool beyond measure.”