Policy review may mean BC Coroners Service will release fewer identities

Mar 21, 2017 | 12:00 PM

KAMLOOPS — A policy review at the BC Coroners Service may have a major impact on the way information on deaths in the community is conveyed to the public.

Word of the policy shift came in response to a CFJC News inquiry this week about the identity of a pedestrian who died after he was hit by a vehicle on Westsyde Road.

In an email, a spokesperson said the Coroners Service is conducting a review of its policy on releasing names to ensure it complies with the Coroners Act.

According to the spokesperson, no names will be released until that review is finished.

The review coincides with the retirement of Media Spokesperson Barb McLintock, whose last day in the position was March 1.

Thompson Rivers University Assistant Professor of Journalism Charles Hays says his interpretation of the Coroners Act is that investigating coroners have latitude to release the deceased’s identities.

“What it says to me is, it is up to the coroner, whoever is in charge to make the decision whether to release the information or not,” said Hays. “They can, but it begins to sort of look like a bit of a professional courtesy, or something that they would do to help journalists do their job of informing the public.”

Hays says, while journalists must be sensitive to privacy concerns, reporting identities of the deceased helps to connect the audience to the wider community.

“We are all connected to other people, and having names, and knowing what has happened to someone who has died by accident, or died in public, it helps us to have a better idea of what is happening in our communities.”

And he adds it can help push action on ongoing issues such as the epidemic of missing and murdered indigenous women.

“The release of information from the BC Coroners Service may be one piece in raising public awareness about an ongoing problem, and in fostering public will to seek for a solution to that problem.”