Ont. seeks to make forensic pathology more accountable after Goudge inquiry

The proposed bill, introduced Thursday, would create a new oversight council, a complaints committee and a provincial forensic pathology service, as recommended by the Goudge inquiry.

The changes address all the recommended legislative amendments outlined by Justice Stephen Goudge following his inquiry into pediatric forensic pathology.

Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Rick Bartolucci said the changes will make Ontario's death investigation system stronger, more accountable and provide for greater oversight and transparency.

"Commissioner Goudge gave us the road map to a stronger, more accountable death investigation system," he said. "This legislation takes us a long way down that road."

The inquiry focused largely on the flawed work of Dr. Charles Smith.

Goudge's 1,000-page slammed Smith, along with Ontario's former chief coroner and his deputy, for their roles in wrongful prosecutions.

One man spent a dozen years in prison after being convicted in 1994 of the rape and murder of his four-year-old niece, who was later found to have died of natural causes.

If passed, Bartolucci said, the legislation would "ensure we have the checks and balances" in place to prevent similar tragedies.

"We would hope ... the victims will have the confidence that with this legislation, they wouldn't have had to go through what they painfully had to go through," Bartolucci said.

Lawyer James Lockyer, of the Association in Defence of the Wrongly Convicted, said the proposed legislation is "a good start" but noted there are several other recommendations that still need to be implemented.

"It's good that the accountability is now fairly and squarely with the forensic pathologists, and I like the approach of having identical standards right across the province," he said.

The proposed legislation would also remove the power to call an inquest from the government, handing it instead to the chief coroner - a plan NDP critic Andrea Horwath called shameful.

"We're left with a watering down of the rights of the people of Ontario to have their elected members, particularly their ministers, speak on their behalf on important issues like the death of loved ones and the people in their community," she told the legislature.

Removing the government from the process wasn't one of Goudge's recommendations.

But even though the ministry has called an inquest only once since 1970, Bartolucci said the change was needed to make sure the system isn't tainted by politics.

The minister didn't provide a timeline for implementing the changes but said he was confident he will have the resources needed to enact the bill if it is passed, despite comments by Ontario's finance minister Wednesday that spending in some new programs will have to be delayed amid the global economic crisis.

"This is not an option in, my estimation - it is a must," Bartolucci said.

"We can never, ever, ever put people through what too many victims went through in the past."

Ontario chief coroner Dr. Andrew McCallum said he was encouraged by the proposed changes, noting the legislation "would provide us the framework we need to truly revitalize the system, and to help us build on the work we've already done to earn back the trust of the people of Ontario."

Goudge asked the province to create a clear legislative framework for forensic pathologists, as well as a specialized forensic unit. He also recommended the province establish a council to oversee the chief coroner's office and chief forensic pathologist.

Goudge made 169 recommendations, though not all of those involved legislative changes.

He called on the Ontario government to consider compensation for those affected by the work of the once-esteemed Smith - something the province said it would do.