N.L. government needs to answer questions about new plan to bury unclaimed bodies, says NDP leader

New rules giving Newfoundland and Labrador Health Services the power to dispose of unclaimed bodies — including by burial or cremation — are now in effect, but the NDP leader wants government to answer questions about the process.

According to the amended legislation, which was filed on Dec. 24 and came into effect on Jan. 1, the health authority will have 14 days to find a person able to claim an individual body, like a spouse or parent.

If NLHS can't find someone within those two weeks, they'll post a notice on a new website for five days. After that, they'll dispose of the body.

"You can put the regulations in place and the legislation in place. The devil in the details is going to be in how it actually shakes out," Dinn told CBC News.

"We hear the minister talking about how it seems to be progressing smoothly. Well, that remains to be seen."

After reading the legislation, Dinn said it sounds like it gives the health authority more power over the unclaimed bodies, but less time to decide what will happen to the remains.

"So in this process, are there going to be enough people to do the necessary search to make sure that they've exhausted the search for relatives," he said.

He's worried the search for the next of kin will be a few emails and phone calls made by government staff, which he believes wouldn't amount to a diligent search.

Website privacy

The move comes after extensive CBC reporting revealed dozens of bodies were lying unclaimed in freezers at the province's largest hospital.

However, it's unclear from the legislation how the website is going to work and what type of personal information will be released in order for the next of kin to be identified.

Previously, Health Minister John Hogan has refused to say exactly how many bodies are currently unclaimed, citing privacy concerns.

Dinn said he finds it hard to believe that numbers are a matter of privacy.

"Unless it's about making sure that no one knows whether the problem is actually getting better or worse. If it's about obscuring the information from the public," he said.

Dinn also said he's worried about what will happen if the government buries an individual only for a family member to come forward after the burial. He said he's worried how that process could harm people's grieving process.

"I hope that they've considered that option."

CBC News has asked both the health authority and Hogan for an interview.

Dinn said officials should be available to answer questions about the new legislation. But he said the government hasn't been forthcoming in the past, citing its move over the summer when the morgue was relocated from a loading bay outside the hospital to a parking garage with a wall around it, as well as its unwillingness to say how many bodies are in storage.

"It's a perfect trifecta of opaqueness," said Dinn.

Address affordability

One of the reasons bodies go unclaimed and end up in storage is because family members are unable to cover the cost of funerals.

Janice Strickland's daughter Sarah died unexpectedly over the summer and was stored in the Health Sciences Centre's morgue after the family struggled to cover funeral costs.

The provincial government refused to provide income support for burial because of a fundraiser the family had launched.

Dinn said he met with Strickland recently and she told him the pain of going through the government process was still with her.

"She still remembers the frustration in trying to get this resolved. So I hope no family ever has to go through that again," he said.

Dinn also said he's not convinced that the necessary government financial assistance is in place to help people who find themselves struggling to bury a loved one.

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