Coroner Service

The Coroner Service is responsible for the investigation of all sudden and unexpected deaths. A coroner serves the living through death investigations, ensuring that no death will be overlooked, concealed, or ignored. The coroner can make recommendations based on their findings to help improve public safety and prevent deaths. The purpose of a death investigation to discover how a person died - not to assign blame for the death. Many communities in the NWT are served through a Community Coroner under the direction of the Office of the Chief Coroner.

A coroner's death investigation determines the identity of the deceased, the circumstances surrounding their death, and the cause of the death. The coroner determines the manner of death; they classify the death as natural, accidental, suicide, homicide, or undetermined.

The Coroner Service works with many specialist experts and investigative partners including the RCMP, forensic pathologists, forensic dentists, health care professionals, the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, the Workers Safety and Compensation Commission, fire marshals, and other experts to provide a multi-disciplinary approach to the investigation of deaths in the Northwest Territories.

The Chief Coroner produces an annual report summarizing all of the deaths that have occurred in the Northwest Territories. The Department of Justice makes these reports available to the public on behalf of the Chief Coroner. Any questions or concerns related to these reports should be directed to the Office of the Chief Coroner.

Community coroner in the Northwest Territories

Community Coroners provide services on an as-needed basis and are part of the public service. They are responsible under the Coroners Act for conducting a though, Independent investigation of all sudden, unexpected and unexplained deaths