British Columbia’s Ministry of Public Safety says it was unaware of the BC Coroners Service continuing a practice of attending certain death scenes remotely after 2019.
Ministry spokeswoman Tasha Schollen says the ministry’s understanding was that in-person scene attendance had been “restored” six years ago, and it’s now discussing the situation with the service.
Her remarks come after a former coroner told The Canadian Press that two bodies went unnoticed at the Vancouver death scene of a third person in 2022 in part because the coroner attended remotely by phoning a police officer at the single room occupancy apartment.
Former community coroner Sonya Schulz says the service stopped requiring coroners to physically attend certain scenes to save money several years ago.
A delegate of B.C.’s director of employment standards also said in a March ruling that when a field coroner isn’t available in a region where a death is reported, a coroner from another area “will typically conduct their investigation of the scene remotely.”
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The body of “Jimmy” Van Chung Pham was found in a tiny apartment in February 2022, but the bodies of missing Indigenous teenager Noelle O’Soup and a woman named Elma Enan went unnoticed there for months until residents complained of the smell.
The ministry says it was a “tragic situation,” and the ministry “is in contact with the BC Coroner’s Service about these allegations.”
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