On Monday, the Sask. Party withdrew a bill that would have given the province’s chief coroner discretion over whether or not to hold public inquests into deaths of people being held in provincial correctional centres.
In-custody deaths are subject to a mandatory inquest unless they were of natural causes, but the Sask. Party’s proposed amendments to the Coroner’s Act would have changed that. Minister of Justice Gordon Wyant tabled the bill in legislature in late October but it hadn’t yet been passed.
A string of public criticisms were unleashed in recent weeks, and Wyant said in a telephone conference Monday afternoon that his office had received complaints from family members of prisoners who had died in the province.
“I certainly had full confidence in the bill when it was introduced but I’m willing to admit that we’ve made a mistake,” Wyant said.
That mistake, he said, was not consulting properly before moving ahead with the bill changes.
“When we make a mistake we’ll acknowledge it, we’ll fix and that’s precisely why I’m withdrawing the bill today.”
He said he welcomes internal reviews by corrections and policing, as well as coroner’s reports and inquests.
“I certainly understand [inquests] can bring a sense of closure and allow for voices to be heard,” Wyant said.
The amendment had been a suggestion by the coroner’s office.
The chief coroner, Kent Stewart, has been under fire for much of this year, with the family of indigenous woman, Nadine Machiskinic,who died at a Regina hotel questioning the details of the final report into her death.