[37] Bill 89 Original (PDF)
Bill 89 2003
An Act to amend
the Coroners Act to require that
more inquests be held and that jury recommendations be acted on
Her Majesty, by and with the advice and consent of the Legislative Assembly of the Province of Ontario, enacts as follows:
1. (1) Subsection 10 (1) of the Coroners Act is amended by striking out "or" at the end of clause (f) and by adding the following clauses:
(h) as a result of an accident on a highway, as defined in the Highway Traffic Act; or
(i) while on the premises of a public, separate or private school, a university or a college of applied arts and technology,
. . . . .
(2) Section 10 of the Act, as amended by the Statutes of Ontario, 1994, chapter 27, section 136 and 2001, chapter 13, section 10, is amended by adding the following subsection:
Coroner to investigate
(1.1) When a coroner is notified of a death under subsection (1), the coroner shall investigate the circumstances of the death and if, as a result of the investigation, he or she is of the opinion that an inquest ought to be held, the coroner shall issue his or her warrant and hold an inquest upon the body.
(3) Clause 10 (2) (h) of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:
(h) a public or private hospital,
. . . . .
2. Section 20 of the Act is repealed and the following substituted:
What coroner should consider and have regard to
20. When making a determination on whether or not an inquest ought to be held, the coroner shall recommend that an inquest be held unless he or she is satisfied that the death was due entirely to natural causes and was not preventable.
3. Section 31 of the Act is amended by adding the following subsections:
Recommendations distributed by Chief Coroner
(3.1) If a jury makes recommendations under subsection (3), the Chief Coroner shall forward the recommendations to the person or entity to which they are directed.
. . . . .
Public sector entity to implement
public safety recommendations
(6) Where the recommendations of a coroner's jury are directed to a public sector entity and where they address issues of public safety, the entity shall implement the recommendations.
Report when recommendations are not implemented
(7) If, within one year after the recommendations are made, a public sector entity has failed to implement all of the recommendations of a coroner's jury that were directed to it and that addressed issues of public safety or fails to fully implement such recommendations or any of them, it shall fully report to the Chief Coroner on the reasons for its failure and the Chief Coroner shall cause the report to be published.
Definition
(8) In this section,
"public sector entity" means,
(a) the Crown in right of Ontario, every agency thereof, and every authority, board, commission, corporation, office or organization of persons a majority of whose directors, members or officers are appointed or chosen by or under the authority of the Lieutenant Governor in Council or a member of the Executive Council,
(b) the corporation of every municipality in Ontario,
(c) every local board as defined by the Municipal Affairs Act and every authority, board, commission, corporation, office or organization of persons some or all of whose members, directors or officers are appointed or chosen by or under the authority of the council of the corporation of a municipality in Ontario,
(d) every board as defined in the Education Act,
(e) every university in Ontario and every college of applied arts and technology and post-secondary institution in Ontario whether or not affiliated with a university, the enrolments of which are counted for purposes of calculating annual operating grants entitlements,
(f) every hospital referred to in the list of hospitals and their grades and classifications maintained by the Minister of Health and Long-Term Care under the Public Hospitals Act, every private hospital operated under the authority of a licence issued under the Private Hospitals Act and every hospital established or approved by the Lieutenant Governor in Council as a community psychiatric hospital under the Community Psychiatric Hospitals Act,
(g) every board of health under the Health Protection and Promotion Act, and every board of health under an Act of the Legislature that establishes or continues a regional municipality, or
(h) the Office of the Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, the Office of the Assembly and the offices of persons appointed on an address of the Assembly.
Commencement
4. This Act comes into force on the day it receives Royal Assent.
Short title
5. The short title of this Act is the Coroners Amendment Act, 2003.
EXPLANATORY NOTE
The Bill amends the Coroners Act so that all deaths on highways, in schools, universities, colleges or in hospitals are reported to the coroner. The coroner shall investigate all such deaths and the coroner is obliged to hold an inquest into a death unless he or she is satisfied that the death was due to natural causes and was not preventable. The Chief Coroner is required to forward jury recommendations to the person or entity to which they are directed. If the recommendations are directed to a public sector entity, the entity shall implement them if the recommendations deal with matters of public safety. If the public sector entity fails to implement the recommendations, it shall report on the reasons for this failure to the Chief Coroner within one year after the recommendations are made.