B.C.'s chief coroner envisions course to prepare people beyond TV 'preconceptions'

British Columbia’s chief coroner says the work of the coroners service is not like the portrayal in crime scene television shows, and those who take on the job might find it’s not for them.

Dr. Jatinder Baidwan says there are “preconceptions” about the work coroners do with portrayals on TV that are far from reality, and he envisions a post-secondary course being offered to give “people an insight into the job before they take it on.”

Baidwan says no such course exists in Canada, and the service is looking to improve on other issues now that the B.C. government has increased wages for field coroners for the first time since 2016.

Field coroners in B.C. are recruited from many walks of life with investigative backgrounds, and the boost to their wages to $49.77 per hour went into effect last month.

Baidwan says the province employs between 50 and 80 field coroners, and the service is looking to recruit more people in several B.C. communities for the on-call positions, with the workload varying widely between rural and urban areas.

He says there’s no “widespread discontent” among community coroners, although the lack of on-call pay and other issues remain a concern and “everyone agrees that these things need to be fixed.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 6, 2026.