Nova Scotia death review committees to investigate first 4 cases

The deaths of four people, including one child, will soon be investigated by committees led by Nova Scotia’s chief medical examiner.

The separate cases will be the first ones looked at since the province laid the groundwork for death review committees in 2019.

The committees are tasked with delving into unexpected deaths of people in custody, deaths of children in the care of the province, and domestic homicides.

Justice Minister Brad Johns told CBC News that the committees will soon look at three deaths in custody and one death of a child in care.

Johns did not share any details about the cases, but three deaths of inmates have been reported this year.

A 27-year-old man named Peter Paul died at the Cape Breton Correctional Facility in Sydney in January. His family says he died by suicide.

Meanwhile, family and friends of Sarah Rose Denny, 36, say she died in March after contracting pneumonia at the Central Nova Scotia Correctional Facility in Burnside. Last week, the Department of Justice confirmed the death of another individual at the Burnside jail, and said the cause of death had not been determined.

Members and terms being finalized

Johns said committee members and terms of reference have not been finalized, but the reviews will begin once they are.

“Both for family members as well as for government, I think that it’s important that those be done in a relatively timely manner,” Johns said.

Johns said he hopes the reviews will take no more than six months, but deferred to the medical examiner on timelines. CBC has asked the medical examiner’s office how long the reviews are expected to take and will update this story with any response. 

Each committee is required to have five members, including the medical examiner. Members can be public servants, but don’t have to be.

Johns described the committee members as “experts,” and said he expects some overlap in membership between the different committees.

Some public reporting required

Once the reviews are complete, the committees will give a report to the justice minister, who is required to share any advice or recommendations with the public, but he does not have to share the entire report.

Johns said he’ll decide how much information to release on a case-by-case basis.

The committees are required to publish annual reports that look at overall trends.