Canada
In Canada, two systems exist in investigating all unnatural and natural unexpected, unexplained, or unattended deaths: coroner or medical examiner. While the name differs, they act in similar capacities as they do not determine civil or criminal responsibility but instead, make and offer recommendations to improve public safety and prevention of death in similar circumstances.
Coroner or Medical Examiner services in Canada are under the jurisdiction of Provincial or Territorial government, within the public safety and security or justice portfolio depending on location. These services are headed by a Chief Coroner (or Chief Medical Examiner) and are supported by a team of coroners or medical examiners which are appointed by the executive council.
The provinces of Alberta, Manitoba, Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and Labrador have a Medical Examiner system, meaning that all death investigations are conducted by specialist physicians trained in Forensic Pathology, with the assistance of other medical and law enforcement personnel.
All other provinces run on a coroner system. In Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Ontario, all coroners are, by law, physicians. In other provinces and territories with a coroner system, namely British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Quebec, New Brunswick, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon, coroners are not necessarily physicians but generally have legal, medical, or investigative backgrounds.
Read more about this topic: Coroners
Famous quotes containing the word canada:
“I see Canada as a country torn between a very northern, rather extraordinary, mystical spirit which it fears and its desire to present itself to the world as a Scotch banker.”
—Robertson Davies (b. 1913)
“This universal exhibition in Canada of the tools and sinews of war reminded me of the keeper of a menagerie showing his animals’ claws. It was the English leopard showing his claws.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“In Canada an ordinary New England house would be mistaken for the château, and while every village here contains at least several gentlemen or “squires,” there is but one to a seigniory.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)