Hiring of additional forensic pathologist among big changes coming to Sask. coroners service
Service will also hire liason to help families go through the coroner's inquest process
The Saskatchewan Coroners Service will hire one new forensic pathologist to help ensure all of the 200 or so autopsies it conducts every year are done in-house.
It's one of several big additions coming to the coroners service thanks to $1.6 million in new money announced in Wednesday's provincial budget.
The service currently has two forensic pathologists, with anatomical pathologists from the Saskatchewan Health Authority sometimes called in for examinations.
Autopsies are typically required for homicides, child deaths or suspicious deaths.
With the hiring of a third forensic pathologist, all such autopsies will be done by pathologists specifically trained in the forensic field, said chief coroner Clive Weighill.
"It gives us a very continuous line of work and results, so that we're always working in the forensic world at all — or almost all … autopsies from now on," he said.
Having three forensic pathologists also means anatomical pathologists won't be called away from their regular duties, such as examining biopsy samples for signs of cancer.
"There's also the added effect of being able to do peer review and cross-consultation [among forensic pathologists]," said Weighill.
Another chunk of the new money will allow the coroners service to farm out the analysis of forensic toxicology results to the Alberta Office of the Chief Coroner.
Saskatchewan's Roy Romanow Provincial Laboratory in Regina can turn out results very quickly, Weighill said, but "they're screening for clinical medicine. They're not screening for a lot of the things that we would be looking for in a forensic world."
As Weighill explained it, the current analysis offered can only cite the therapeutic value of a drug found in someone's system, whereas forensic toxicologists like those at the Alberta office can actually testify in court whether the drug contributed to the person's death.
New family liaison position
Besides the new forensic pathologist, the new money will allow to coroner's service to hire people to fill 5.5 other new positions.
That includes a full-time liaison for families going through the coroner's inquest process, meant for people who died in jail or — in some cases — people who died during police-involved incidents.
"This is where we've come under criticism in the past," said Weighill. "Families find it hard to get into the bureaucracy if they have an issue with one of the investigations that we've done, or if they have concerns about an inquest."
The liaison will not only walk families through the process — such as the option for families to have lawyers represent them — but also clarify that inquests are fact-finding missions mean to avoid similar deaths, and are not criminal trials.
The position will be based in Regina, as will a new full-time supervising coroner job.
A new learning and development manager will co-ordinate the training of the province's 70 community coroners, while another new staffer will become the coroners service's first-ever in-house communications person.
Currently, communication is handled by staff at Saskatchewan's Ministry of Justice.
Another pair of ears
Weighill also flagged another change — one that's not tied to the budget but will still need legislative tweaking to become a reality.
Under the change, the coroners who oversee inquests will be able to make their own recommendations on how to prevent future deaths. That would be on top of the suggestions made by the six-person civilian juries that listen to inquest testimony.
That change won't take effect in time for the province's next inquest, which will look into the July 2017 death of 22-year-old Austin Eaglechief in Saskatoon. Eaglechief died after his vehicle crashed following a police pursuit. The inquest into his death is next week.
Weighill is hopeful the change can be pushed through within 18 months. It would not be without precedent: presiding coroners or provincial court judges can make their own recommendations during inquests in B.C., New Brunswick, Alberta and Manitoba.
Weighill said the province's five inquest coroners are all Court of Queen's Bench lawyers who are "very well established in law and very well established on picking things out of people's testimony."
"Sometimes the juries don't comprehend, sometimes they have a different point of view," he said.
"If you have an inquest coroner actually sitting through this and listening, we feel there's value for them to be able to make a recommendation."
All of the changes or additions were contained in a 44-point list of recommendations Weighill made last summer, before being hired to take over the coroner's service in the fall.
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