‘More than a hero’: Remembering Burnaby RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang

On Wednesday, Burnaby RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang was laid to rest.

Her funeral was held at the Richmond Olympic oval where thousands of Yang’s first responder colleagues from across Canada and the world watched along to pay their respects.

She was stabbed to death while attending a call at Burnaby’s Broadview Park, near Canada Way and Boundary Road, on Oct. 18.

Yang, who was part of Burnaby RCMP’s mental health and outreach team, was partnered with a city parks staff member and had been called to the park to check on a person camping in a tent there when she was stabbed. 

Family friend, Jack Simpson, spoke at the funeral, sharing insight into who Yang was as a person.

“Shae was principled. Principled in a way that helped people around her be better, do better, be more compassionate, be less judgmental. Shae had the unusual quality of making every room she was in a better place and yet was often the quietest one in that room. She listened a lot, she thought deeply and when she spoke, people listened,” he said.

“Shae was kind, observant, warm, strong, and gentle. Shae was never one to draw attention to herself. She was the kind of person you wanted to know more about.”

Simpson shared that Yang and her wife, Simone, wed in February 2020. “They built a life together. A loving home. They adopted an adorable puppy…”

He added that Yang’s dream was to join the RCMP because she wanted to help people and when she was assigned to the Burnaby RCMP unit she and her family were “thrilled.”

She worked temporary rotations with the outreach team and was recently extended in her role.

“The outreach work was extremely important to Shae. The outreach work was a perfect role for her. She was loving, yet firm, and treated everyone the same. When someone was at their lowest, most vulnerable, she was the officer that they needed. She brought love and strength and compassion without judgement,” said Simpson.

Yang’s cousin, Ash Tan, also spoke, describing Yang as being dedicated to serving and helping others.

“I also want you to know Shae was more than a hero. She was human. She was deeply, deeply human. Everything she did was defined by her empathy, her compassion, and her belief that she could change the world. She helped everyone she could because she had faith in them. She had faith that we, each and everyone one of us, could make this world a better place. And she kept this faith in spite of all the struggles in her life. She faced so much adversity. The sort of adversity that can really change a person. But in all the time I knew her, she only ever grew warmer and kinder than before,” said Tan.

Jongwon Ham, 37, has been charged with first-degree murder in Yang’s death and made his second court appearance on Wednesday.