VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – Investigators in Vancouver are trying to find a woman, as concerns grow for her physical and mental well-being after the body of a baby was found inside a portable washroom on the Downtown Eastside, Wednesday evening.

Vancouver police confirmed Thursday the discovery was made the night before around 6:00 p.m. near the Carnegie Centre in the area of Main and Hastings Streets.

“This is a, without a doubt, an extremely tragic incident,” said Const. Tania Visintin. “We need to speak with any witnesses and the mother of this baby as we are deeply concerned for her mental and physical well-being. It has been a tough evening for the community and the department.”

It is crucial for anyone with information to come forward immediately. Police are urging anyone who knows anything to call the @VancouverPD's Major Crime Section at 604.717.2500 or CrimeStoppers at 1.800.222.8477. — Sonia Aslam (@SoniaSAslam) April 23, 2020

Janice Abbott, Atira Women’s Resource Society CEO, tells NEWS 1130 while the mother’s state of mind, living circumstances and prior trauma remain unclear; no one should be rushing to judge the woman.

She says there are many reasons a woman would not feel comfortable going to a hospital to give birth or seek medical support.

“If she was, if she was substance-using, she may not have known she was pregnant. It’s not uncommon for women to stop menstruating when they’re using, and it’s not uncommon for them not to gain weight. So, she may have been surprised when she went into labour and not understood what was happening to her,” she says.

Abbott adds the woman may have even had a history of losing children to social services, which caused her to be “fearful” of having another child taken away, preventing her from seeking help.

“Before we rush to judgment about the mother, rather, we need to consider all of the reasons [why] this … transpired the way it did,” she says.

Abbott adds this woman could also be a vulnerable woman within a population that is sometimes forgotten.

“She went into a private place, a porta-potty where she was literally forgotten. Nobody noticed her. Nobody heard her in a community that’s been forgotten.”

Abbott says being forgotten is especially true over this last as the pandemic has taken the public’s attention to the opioid [crisis].

“We have folks who are struggling with substance use or struggling with mental wellness, there is profound violence against women in this community,” she says.

“There’s a lot of stuff about this community that we can celebrate but there’s a lot of stuff about this community that we need to support and need to have more compassion about and find ways to help folks get to a different place,” she says.

On Wednesday, officers spent several hours in the area, where yellow tape surrounded a string of porta-potties.

Police are looking to speak with anyone who may have any information about this incident. Contact the Vancouver Police Department’s major crime section at 604-717-2500 or CrimeStoppers at 1-800-222-8477.