B.C.’s Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe to retire after 30 years in public service

B.C.’s Chief Coroner Lisa Lapointe has announced she will be retiring from her role in February of next year.

In a statement released Wednesday, Lapointe says it’s been “an incredible honour” to serve as the province’s chief coroner for the past 13 years but it is “the right time” to retire.

Her retirement also marks her 30th year as a member of the B.C. Public Service.

The chief coroner is appointed by an order of the Lieutenant Governor after a merit-based process. Lapointe’s third term of appointment ends on Feb. 8 and reappointments of up to five years can be made after that.

“I am incredibly fortunate to have spent my career doing work that was engaging, collaborative and, most importantly, meaningful. A public service career is both an occupation and a calling, and I am grateful to have been given so many wonderful opportunities to support positive change,” Lapointe said.

She adds that her years as a chief coroner have been both “humbling and challenging” as her work often involved investigating the circumstances of death to provide information and assistance to families and communities.

“For every tragic loss, the coroner must consider whether there is an opportunity to prevent similar deaths in the future. In this way, the role of the coroner, which may seem a bleak one, provides an opportunity to advance meaningful change,” she said.

A majority of Lapointe’s role has focused on the province’s ongoing toxic drug supply crisis and the gaps in the system that still need to be addressed. She says “there are many significant challenges facing British Columbians and the Coroners Service that will endure after [her] departure.”

“Like so many others, our agency has been forever altered by the toxic-drug public health emergency that continues to take the lives of people of all ages in communities throughout B.C., and it deeply saddens me that we have been unable to influence the essential change necessary to reduce the tragic impacts of toxic drugs on so many thousands of our family members, friends and colleagues across the province.”

“The measures recommended by the expert members of Coroners Service death-review panels are essential to ending this crisis and I will continue to support those recommendations post-retirement,” Lapointe adds.

She notes that over the next few months she will continue to oversee investigations, inquests, and death-review panels undertaken by the agency, and will continue to look for opportunities to build more alliances to enhance public safety and confidence.

Lapointe’s career in public service started in 1995 when she was first appointed as a coroner by then chief coroner Vince Cain. She held positions in B.C. Coroners Service, Corrections Branch and the province’s Civil Forfeiture Office since.

“Public service is a privilege and I have been honoured to have played a small part in serving the people of B.C. over the past 30 years,” Lapointe said.