B.C. has appointed a new chief coroner as the toxic drug crisis in the province continues to kill hundreds of people each month.
On Thursday, the Ministry of Public Safety announced that Dr. Jatinder Baidwan, a physician and educator, has been appointed by the lieutenant-governor.
Baidwan is not new to the coroners service; he joined the team in 2017 as the service’s chief medical officer. In that role, he’s taken the organizational lead on the investigation of the deaths from the 2021 heat dome, as well as the increased death toll during the COVID-19 pandemic.
According to the province, he previously served as chief medical officer for Island Health.
“As chief coroner, Baidwan aims to enhance the role of the B.C. Coroners Service to provide data to better inform policymakers in their decisions, preventing future deaths and improving safety for people throughout B.C.,” the ministry said in a news release.
Baidwan’s appointment comes nearly six months since former chief coroner Lisa LaPointe’s last day on the job.
As she left her post, LaPointe criticized the provincial government’s approach to preventing toxic drug deaths.
“We see these ad hoc announcements, but sadly, what we haven’t seen is a thoughtful, evidence-based, data-driven plan for how we are going to reduce the number of deaths in our province,” she told the Canadian Press in December, shortly after announcing her plans to retire mid-February.
Since a public health emergency was declared in April 2016, more than 14,500 people have lost their lives to toxic drugs in B.C.
This spring, the provincial government instituted a significant rollback of a three-year drug decriminalization pilot project that started in January 2023, in effect recriminalizing the use of drugs in public spaces, such as parks, public transit and hospitals.
In February, LaPointe told CBC that efforts to destigmatize and decriminalize drug use must continue after her departure.
“If we don’t see wide-scale change, then next year, the new chief coroner will be standing up and saying there were another 2,500 deaths,” she said.
As she heads into retirement, B.C.’s chief coroner Lisa Lapointe says she worries that the political winds have turned against drug decriminalization, and that people who oppose it don’t understand how safe supply saves lives.