TORONTO - Now is not the time to mull compensation for innocent people accused of killing children in cases handled by a disgraced pathologist once considered a top forensic expert, Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty said Wednesday.
The government has an "obligation'' to consider compensation, but only after it receives the final report of a public inquiry probing the errors of Dr. Charles Smith, which wrapped up Tuesday, McGuinty said.
The premier also said he'll wait for the report, expected Sept. 30, before deciding whether to expand the province's review of child-death cases as urged by experts and lawyers representing those affected by Smith's errors.
"What I think we should do is wait for the inquiry to be completed, wait for the recommendations to be made public, take a look at that and then ask ourselves, `Where do we need to go?''' McGuinty said.
Justice Stephen Goudge, who led the inquiry into pediatric forensic pathology in Ontario, was urged in final arguments this week to recommend that the province set up a process to compensate people affected by Smith's work and to widen its review of child-death cases.
But lawyers for the Ministry of the Attorney General argued that compensation wasn't part of the inquiry's mandate and that the issue is best dealt with through existing channels, such as civil actions and mediation.
They also brushed off requests that the province look at all "shaken baby'' or head injury cases that led to criminal convictions, as well as suggestions that the federal and Ontario governments revamp the way they review convictions.
During his testimony at the inquiry, Ontario's chief forensic pathologist Dr. Michael Pollanen urged the province to review 142 infant deaths where "shaken baby syndrome'' was listed as the cause because of an evolution in the debate over the syndrome.
The inquiry examined Smith's work from 1992 to 2002, and an internal review of his earlier cases from 1981 to 1991 is ongoing.
But lawyers for those affected by Smith's work argue that the public's shattered confidence in Ontario's justice system may never be restored if the province doesn't take steps to uncover all possible miscarriages of justice.
It's only fair that the trail of victims left by Smith and the coroner's office that failed to adequately oversee his work be compensated quickly and fairly, said NDP justice critic Peter Kormos.
"By avoiding the issues, by denying the prospect of other serious injustices, Mr. McGuinty and the government are compounding the Smith tragedy,'' he said.
"And at the end of the day, we'll simply have to accept even more responsibility than they would if they were to take the matter in hand and proceed with a thorough review and full compensation now.''
The inquiry was called last year after a study by the provincial coroner's office found evidence of errors in 20 of 45 autopsies performed over a 10-year period by Smith, who headed Ontario's pediatric forensic pathology unit at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children. Thirteen of those cases resulted in criminal proceedings.
