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The bakery at the Mumford Road Walmart in Halifax, where the body of 19-year-old Gursimran Kaur was found inside a commercial oven on Oct. 19, has been cleared to reopen.
The Nova Scotia Department of Labour, Skills and Immigration lifted the stop-work order, reports Haligonia.ca.
The order was initially imposed following her death. The labour department said Monday that Walmart had met the required safety standards allowing the bakery to resume operations.
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“The stop-work order was lifted when compliance was confirmed, allowing bakery operations to safely resume should Walmart decide to do so,” the department said in an email to CBC News on Oct. 29.
Labour investigators conducted 9 inspections at the Walmart on Mumford Road over the last five years. No enforcement action was taken after those inspections. No orders or administrative penalties were issued, says the CBC.
But even though the bakery is cleared to reopen, the Walmart store remains closed.
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In a letter to employees on Oct. 27, Walmart said the store would be shut down for at least another week. The company did not provide a reopening date.
Employees affected by the closure are being paid. Walmart said alternate work arrangements will be considered if the closure continues.
Kaur immigrated to Canada from India two years ago. Her death has deeply affected the local community. An online fundraiser has raised nearly $200,000 to support her grieving family and bring her father and brother from India to Nova Scotia for her funeral.
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Kaur’s mother also works at the store. It was she who discovered her daughter’s body, after Kaur did not respond to phone calls during their shift.
She had noticed her daughter missing from the shop floor for over an hour, with her phone unusually turned off and unreachable, reports the Daily Mail.
It was then a colleague in the bakery section pointed out a “leakage” from inside the walk-in oven, where her mother found Kaur’s remains.
Kaur’s mother is still suffering from shock but she authorized the release of information about her daughter for the GoFundMe page, Balbir Singh, secretary of the Maritime Sikh Society, told the CBC.
A disturbing revelation came to light last week after sources told CBC News that the appliance within the Halifax store “did not lock.”
However, Halifax police are urging the public to resist speculation until the investigation is completed.
Kaur came to Canada about two years ago from India says Singh. She was “a young beautiful girl who came to Canada with big dreams,” says an online fundraising page organized by the society.
Police investigators are no longer at the Walmart, but their inquiry into the circumstances surrounding Kaur’s death is ongoing.
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