Community coroner Stephen Hunter waits as the small group of 16- and 17-year-olds file into the room. After a moment or two of whispers, a hush finally settles over the teens. They are standing in the morgue at Powell River General Hospital.
These grade 11 students from Brooks Secondary School are visiting the hospital as part of the PARTY (Prevention of Alcohol and Rick Related Trauma in Youth) program, an educational eye-opener which takes them through, sometimes in graphic detail, what could happen to them after being seriously injured or dying in a car crash. Many of these teens have a freshly pressed driver’s licence in their possession.
“You don’t want to end up here,” Hunter said as he begins his talk to the teens about investigating unexpected deaths.
Hunter is new to the role of community coroner, but a familiar face in Powell River having lived here most of his life. Like many who grew up here, Hunter left to go to university as a young man but returned later to work at the paper mill and to remain close to family.
“It was interesting speaking to the students about the possible results of their actions,” Hunter said, when talking with the Peak about the role of community coroners. “Hopefully I left them with a strong message. I like doing public education because prevention is so much better than the alternative.”
Hunter was appointed to the position in November 2014 and began investigating his own cases at the beginning of 2015 after completing the required training course in Burnaby and shadowing a full-time coroner for a week in Victoria.
The province has 64 full-time coroners and staff and 65 community coroners working from five regional offices. The Office of the Chief Coroner is located in Burnaby. Powell River and the Upper Sunshine Coast belong to the island region.
Hunter is a chartered professional accountant by trade and works as chief financial officer for Tla’amin (Sliammon) Nation, a role he has held for the past couple of years. He has a background in emergency response having served as a medic for Canadian Coast Guard for four years and volunteering as an auxiliary member.
He explained that coroners do not necessarily have to have a medical background to do the job. “I’ve seen a fair number of deaths and have had some tragedies in my own life,” he said.
However, skills used frequently working in senior management at Catalyst Paper Corporation Powell River division before his current job with Tla’amin, have come in useful. “You have to have the ability to gather data and investigate,” he said, “and have compassion because you’re dealing with families who have just lost a loved one.”
Hunter did take a medical terminology course as part of his training, but coroners are not forensic pathologists, he explained. BC Coroners Service investigates sudden and unexpected death and usually it is shocking for the deceased’s family. “Every time I go out to a call it’s someone’s worst day,” he said. His role is to investigate the circumstances of the death—the how, when, where and by what means—and then classify it as natural, accidental, suicide, homicide or undetermined. He also helps people deal with their immediate grief and can navigate them toward counselling or police and community-based victim services.
Hunter said it usually takes about one to two days to conduct his investigation.
Coroners as investigators are independent from the police and health authorities. Their mandate is not to assign fault or blame, but investigate the circumstances of deaths considered unnatural, unexpected, unexplained or unattended, Hunter said.
When investigating a death, the coroner will consult with the deceased’s physician about the person’s medical history. If the circumstances of the death point to a natural disease cause and the person’s medical history backs that result up, Hunter said he is able to close the file himself.
If a death looks to be accidental, suicidal, homicidal or even natural but doctors are not able to account for it, then coroners gather the basic information from their investigation and upload it to the BC Coroners Service’s database where a full-time coroner will take over and order further tests, such as an autopsy, if required, he said.
Hunter said that on average he performs one investigation every week to 10 days, with between 35 to 50 calls per year. Since starting he has performed about a dozen investigations.
When a deceased individual is found paramedics are generally the first responders who attend, he explained. Then, depending on the circumstances, the police and coroner are called in.
He is grateful to his employer at Tla’amin who allows him the flexibility in his schedule to take on the added responsibility.
“And it’s not just me who is on call, it’s also my family,” he added. Hunter is married and has two young children.
He explained that while he might be the only community coroner in Powell River, if he were to be unavailable for a call, a coroner from Vancouver Island would be called in to gather the information and conduct the investigation.
Despite past history dealing with death, Hunter was not sure how it would be when he first started out as community coroner. “It’s actually been more gratifying than I expected.” Helping people a little who are in shock and who are grieving has been a positive experience, Hunter added.
He hopes to have more opportunities to talk to the community about the coroner service.
“That’s the other part of the coroner service,” he said. “We do the up-front investigation and provide what’s needed for families, but we also have a mandate for public education.”
Recently, the service has released reports on the increasing number of accidental deaths attributed to Fentanyl, an opioid-based pain relief medication, on the high rate of driving-related teen deaths, and the service is currently looking at the affect of raising BC’s highway speed limits.
But, the most important information conveyed by a coroner is more personal. A key aim of the investigation is to identify risk factors to prevent further deaths. “We always try to warn the public,” he said.
