After we made public our February 5 letter to the the Minister of Public Safety, Hon. John Foran [Click here to read letter in Word format], he was contacted by several journalists and was reported as saying that "there is nothing wrong with the Coroners Act" and that he has no intention of reforming the Act. Well, that's not what a lot of other people have been saying, including the Canadian Bar Association- New Brunswick Branch [Click here to read the text of their report "Bringing Death Investigations in New Brunswick into the 21st Century"].
Added to the list of dissatisifed New Brunswickers is the family of Kevin Geldart - whose death by taser was the subject of a Coroners Inquest in Moncton and the family of Leona Harquail, whose death while in the custody of the health care system also became the subject of a Coroners Inquest.
Now we too are facing an Inquest into the deaths of our sons last year in a horrible tragedy and the Minister continues to repeat the mantra that everything is all right.
IT'S NOT ALL RIGHT MR. FORAN
Well it's not all right, and we refuse to accept that our sons Inquest is going to take place under the worst Coroners Act in the country.
All we are asking for is two things:
a) …create standing for victims and other interested parties at Inquests
b) initiate a comprehensive review of the Coroners Act with a view to modernizing it as almost all other Provinces have already done.
Just because John Foran thinks there's nothing wrong with the Act doesn't mean we have to stop at the Department of Public Safety. We know that law reform is a different branch of government, so we have written to Tim Rattenbury, Solicitor with the Law Reform Branch of the Attorney General (Hon. T.J. Burke, Minister of Justice and Attorney General), asking for a meeting to discuss oUr concerns about reform OF the Coroners Act.
We have also been in contact with several Liberal and Conservative Party members who are sympathetic to our cause. We will be meeting with some of them in Fredericton in the very near future to discuss reform of the Coroners Act before our sons Inquest begins in April or May.
We know that when politicians have the political will to do something, they can move fast. Our sons' Inquest will be a test of the Liberal's resolve to change the Coroners Act. When the Inquest does happen, it will attract attention from around the country and the world. NB's Act, already considered one of the worst in the country, will become a lightning rod for criticism from people who have already been through the process and are not happy with the outcome.
If we do not see a commitment to reforming the Coroners Act they can rest assured that we will do everything we can to make the rest of the country, and the rest of the world know that we have the worst Coroners Act in Canada, North America and probably, the Western World. Every other province in Canada except the Yukon and Newfoundland, has a modern Coroners Act. Even the United States and Britain have modern Coroners Acts. But not New Brunswick. [Read the Canadian Bar Association - NB Branch Report "Bringing Death Investigations in New Brunswick into the 21st Century" for a detailed review of the NB situation].
WE STRONGLY DISAGREE WITH THE MINISTER OF PUBLIC SAFETY
Meantime, the Minister of Public Safety keeps saying "There's nothing wrong with the Act". Sorry, but we aren't singing from the same song book any more.
We are not satisfied with the Minister's well rehearsed response that "everything is OK" and we'll do everything we can to let people know that the NB Coroners Act is going to let our sons down if an Inquest takes place without the changes we are asking for. We're not asking for much. All we want is two things:
a) …create standing for victims and other interested parties at Inquests
b) initiate a comprehensive review of the Coroners Act with a view to modernizing it as almost all other Provinces have already done.
