Woman, 19, baked to death in walk-in Walmart oven… now official report into tragedy has shared very troubling finding
Nova Scotia’s Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration has found that no workplace safety violations occurred in the October 2024 death of a 19-year-old Walmart employee who was found inside a walk-in bakery oven at a Halifax store.
The department concluded its investigation after the body of Gursimran Kaur was discovered inside the oven at the superstore on Mumford Road.
The report made no mention of whether her death may have been suicide and was unable to offer any insights into how she might have ended up in the oven.
‘The Province has concluded its workplace safety investigation into the October 2024 death of an employee at the Walmart on Mumford Road in Halifax and found no violations,’ the department in a formal statement.
According to the department, its safety branch conducted what it described as an extensive investigation into the workplace conditions and the specific oven involved.
‘Investigators determined the oven was in proper working order at the time of the incident, and no safety violations were identified that could have contributed to the worker’s death,’ the release stated.
The department added that it 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,’ Labour Minister Nolan Young said in a statement.
Gursimran Kaur, 19, tragically died in the Halifax, Nova Scotia superstore. She was found inside a walk-in bakery oven
A spokesperson for Walmart Canada said the oven was removed from the store as part of store remodeling
‘Our responsibility is to understand what happened, determine whether safety requirements were met and use those findings to support future prevention efforts.’
Under Nova Scotia’s Occupational Health and Safety Act, the province investigates serious workplace incidents to determine whether laws were followed and to identify opportunities to improve safety.
The findings follow an earlier police investigation when in November 2024 police announced they did not believe the death was suspicious.
‘We do not believe anyone else was involved in the circumstances surrounding the woman’s death,’ Halifax Regional Police Constable Martin Cromwell said at the time.
‘We acknowledge the public’s interest in this case and that there are questions that may never have answers.’
The Maritime Sikh Society told how Kaur and her mother had moved to Halifax from India about three years earlier, and both were employed at the Walmart.
Community members said Kaur’s mother became concerned the night of October 19 after not seeing her daughter for over an hour during their shift. Repeated phone calls went unanswered.
According to statements shared by the Society and on a GoFundMe page created to support the family, Kaur’s mother began searching the store before eventually discovering her daughter inside the walk-in oven in the bakery area.
Kaur and her mother began working at Walmart together in 2002 shortly after arriving from India seeking new opportunities
‘Imagine the horror that her mother experienced when she opened the oven, when someone pointed it out to her!’, a spokesperson for the family wrote on the fundraising page.
The same page described Kaur as ‘a young beautiful girl who came to Canada with big dreams.’
A spokesperson for Walmart Canada told the media in fall 2024 how the oven would be removed from the store.
The company said at the time that ‘removing the oven had always been part of the standard remodel program’ being implemented across the country.
Following the incident, the Mumford Road Walmart was closed for several months for renovation work. The store reopened in February 2025.
