Two people were killed and two others were taken to a hospital after a driver struck four people in the parking lot of Tsawwassen Mills Mall in Delta, British Columbia, on Wednesday, Sept. 30, 2026, while a Truth and Reconciliation walk was taking place on nearby Tsawwassen First Nation lands, the Delta Police Department said.
Officers were called to the shopping center at about 10:25 a.m., according to a police news release describing a serious collision in the lot. Investigators said the driver “may have experienced a medical emergency,” the department said, offering no further detail on what happened behind the wheel.
BC Emergency Health Services paramedics treated the two surviving victims at the scene before they were taken to a hospital. Police have not released the names, ages or any other identifying information about the people involved.
Police Rule Out Link to Remembrance Walk
Within hours, the Delta Police Department moved to separate the crash from the gathering unfolding a short distance away. Investigators said the collision had no connection to the Truth and Reconciliation Walk being held on Tsawwassen First Nation lands at the time, and that there was no ongoing risk to public safety.
The timing nonetheless cut deeply. As the crash unfolded, community members were gathered to honor Residential School Survivors, their families and the children who never returned home, as well as the culture, freedom and self-esteem that many Indigenous children lost, according to the Government of Canada.
The annual observance began on Sept. 30, 2013. Many Canadians mark the anniversary by wearing orange shirts, a visual reminder that “Every Child Matters.”
Carney Mourns Two Beloved Elders
Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney wrote in a post on X that the Tsawwassen First Nation was in the country’s hearts.
“To lose two beloved elders — in such a terrifying accident and on a day already so heavy with grief — is devastating,” Carney wrote.
He added that his thoughts were with the families of those who died, with the injured and with a community left grieving and in shock.
British Columbia Premier David Eby said in a statement that the tragedy during the Tsawwassen First Nation’s Truth and Reconciliation event had shocked and saddened many, coming on a date set aside across the country for solemn reflection. Eby said his thoughts were with the families, with those who were hurt and with everyone at Tsawwassen First Nation while details were still emerging.
Tsawwassen First Nation Asks for Privacy
The Tsawwassen First Nation, a Coast Salish Indigenous government that operates under its own constitution and laws, confirmed the crash in a series of updates posted to Facebook and asked that the privacy of those affected be respected. The nation said police were conducting an investigation and that nothing so far suggested the driver had acted deliberately.
In a separate statement, the nation urged members of the public to stay away from the area so that emergency crews could do their work. The mall sits on Tsawwassen First Nation land, a short distance from the route the walk followed.
For a community that had set aside the morning to remember children taken from their families, the loss of two elders in a parking lot turned a day of mourning into something sharper. Police offered no timeline for the investigation, and the department’s account of a possible medical emergency remained the only explanation authorities had put forward.
Two of the four people struck survived. Their conditions were not disclosed, and the Delta Police Department said the public faced no continuing danger.