Sudbury mayor promises 'careful review' of jury recommendations after 911 coroner's inquest

Sudbury mayor Brian Bigger says recommendations from a jury will be carefully evaluated, after a coroner's inquest reviewed the circumstances that led to the deaths of three people on Lake Wanapitei in June 2013.

On Thursday, the jury in the joint coroner's inquest looking into Ontario's 911 system, returned with 27 recommendations — 19 of those are directed to the government of Ontario, while the remainder are for municipalities that provide 911 service.

"I want to express our deepest sympathies to the friends and families of all of those involved in these incidents," Bigger said in a news release Friday morning.

"I also want to express my gratitude to all those seeking to make the systems and processes we all rely on as effective as possible. I know that the recommendations made as a result of this inquest were not made lightly, and they will be carefully reviewed."

For the past three weeks, the five-member jury heard testimony about two different fatal tragedies. The first involved a 2013 boat crash on Lake Wanapitei in Greater Sudbury, that left three people dead. The other case involved Kathryn Missen, who had an asthma attack and died at her home in Casselman in 2014.

In both cases someone called 911 for help, but the help came too late.

Sudbury police chief Paul Pedersen said he acknowledged how difficult the past five years have been for the families of the dead.

"We look forward to reviewing the recommendations with our emergency services partners through the Joint Emergency Services Operations Advisory Group (JESOAG) in order to implement positive change," he said in the statement.

The provincial government has until December 2019 to report back to Coroner's office about efforts to implement the recommendations.

Municipalities that provide 911 service have until December 2021 to work to get their recommendations in place.