Bill proposes to give more independence to coroners
Saskatchewan is moving to give its coroners more independence and authority as part of a slew of changes the province’s chief coroner lauded as “very progressive.”
Justice Minister Don Morgan introduced a bill on Wednesday that would allow coroners to make their own recommendations at inquests. It would also give the chief coroner more control over staffing and provide families a formal way to appeal decisions against holding an inquest.
Last year, former Saskatoon police chief Clive Weighill made 44 recommendations to reform a coroners service he found rife with delays, organizational issues and funding constraints. Now, in his role as Saskatchewan’s chief coroner, he said the new bill responds to all of his outstanding concerns.
“If all the amendments are passed, we’ll be comparable to every other jurisdiction in Canada ...” he said. “There’s not one item yet that hasn’t been included in the package.”
The bill includes reforms to the conduct of coroner’s inquests, which are held to publicly examine a suspicious or unexplained death and look for ways to prevent similar situations from arising again. Previously, only the six-person jury could issue recommendations at the end of proceedings. Now, inquest coroners will be able to do likewise.
“I heard a lot from people that were not happy with the way inquests were run,” said Weighill. “I think allowing the inquest coroner to make recommendations will go a long way.”
But the bill does far more than that. While the minister would appoint the deputy chief coroner, he wouldn’t be responsible for hiring or firing other coroners in the province.
“They’ll be done by the chief coroner,” Morgan said. “So it removes it from the eyes or the control of politicians.”
The bill would also give coroners the power to reopen investigations in cases where new evidence becomes available. It would allow spouses, parents, children or siblings, as well as other personal representatives of a deceased person, to request a review when coroners opt not to hold an inquest.
“Now we’ll be setting up a process where it’s very formal ...” Weighill said. “I think it opens the door for a lot more transparency and openness of the coroners service to have that second look.”
Many of the issues Weighill identified in his June 2018 report, such as slow results for toxicology testing and a revolving door of staff, were connected to funding issues.
The government committed $1.6 million to address that in its March budget. Weighill said that funding resolved many of the issues he warned about. Since then, his office has hired six and a half full-time equivalents, including a new supervising coroner and a third forensic pathologist, who will be starting in July.
He said delays in toxicology results have also been resolved as the lab brought on more staff.
“They got the time down quite substantially, to two or three weeks, which is almost unheard of,” he said. “It’s very quick.”
NDP Justice Critic Nicole Sarauer did not criticize the details of the new bill. But she said it is still up to the government, not the coroner, to ensure that inquest recommendations have a real impact and keep Saskatchewan people safe.
“It’s incumbent on the ministries to ensure that when these inquests happen and these recommendations are made, they’re then followed through by the ministries,” she said. “And we’ve seen many instances where these very important recommendations essentially collect dust on the shelf somewhere.”