Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner Database, January 2006 to December 2024
Released: 2025-03-04
Provincial and territorial coroners and medical examiners (C/ME) investigate and classify deaths that are unexpected, unexplained, suspected to have occurred by violence or believed to be from injury or drugs. From 2006 to 2023, 14.0% of all deaths in Canada were investigated by a C/ME. The territories (40.6%) had the highest percentage of deaths investigated while Quebec (7.6%) had the lowest. The variation by province and territory may be explained in part by differences in legislation outlining the provincial and territorial death investigation service requirement for investigating deaths. New preliminary information on investigated deaths is available today from the Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner Database.
Chart 1
Percentage of deaths investigated by coroners and medical examiners in Canada, by province or territories, 2006 to 2023
The percentage of deaths investigated by coroners and medical examiners has been increasing since 2016 following a nine-year decline
The percentage of investigated deaths began to increase in 2016 (13.1%) following a nine-year decline (from 16.2% in 2006 to 12.7% in 2015). Despite decreasing to 13.5% 2019, annual investigated deaths for the 2016-to-2023 period remained higher than in 2015. These percentages reflect completed C/ME investigations, as such, the percentages of investigated deaths presented for recent years (2020 to 2023) are preliminary. The percentage of deaths investigated in these years will likely be greater as investigations are completed.
Chart 2
Percentage of deaths investigated by coroners and medical examiners in Canada, 2006 to 2023
The higher percentages observed during the 2016-to-2023 period may be attributed to the increase in substance-related toxicity deaths that occurred during the peak of the opioid crisis and COVID-19 pandemic. For example, fentanyl-related toxicity deaths accounted for at least 11% of all deaths investigated by C/MEs in 2021, a significant increase from around 2% in 2015. In 2019, the percentage of C/ME investigated deaths declined slightly, aligning with the reduction in substance-related toxicity deaths in Canada for that year. These trends are consistent with previously released figures for accidental drug poisoning deaths and opioid and stimulant toxicity deaths.
The legalization of medical assistance in dying (MAID) in 2016 may have contributed to an increase in investigated deaths in recent years. Provincial and territorial C/MEs began investigating some (e.g., around 7% of Ontario MAID deaths in 2023) or all (e.g., Alberta) MAID deaths as per their jurisdiction's legislative requirement.
Coroners and medical examiners investigate almost twice as many deaths among males than females
The rate of C/ME investigated deaths varied by sex and age group. From 2006 to 2023, C/MEs investigated almost twice as many deaths among males (17.7% of all male deaths in Canada) than females (10.1% of all female deaths). Males have higher mortality rates than females across a wide range of causes of death, including unintentional injuries (e.g., accidental drug toxicity deaths), suicides and homicides.
From 2006 to 2023, 80.6% of deaths among 15- to 29-year-olds in Canada were investigated by C/ME services, higher than all other age groups. This was followed by 5- to 14-year-olds (58.4%) and 30- to 49-year-olds (55.4%). Deaths among older age groups and children under 5 were less frequently investigated by C/MEs as deaths in these age groups were most commonly due to natural causes.
Chart 3
Percentage of deaths investigated by coroners and medical examiners in Canada, by age group, 2006 to 2023
The increase in investigated deaths that occurred over the 2016-to-2023 period was observed among both males and females and across most age groups. The increase was particularly pronounced for the 30- to 49-year age group (from 53.9% investigated deaths in 2015 to a peak of 62.4% in 2021). This increase may be partly attributed to the increase in accidental drug poisoning deaths observed for this age group since 2016.
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Note to readers
The Canadian Coroner and Medical Examiner Database (CCMED) was developed in 2008 at Statistics Canada in collaboration with the 13 provincial and territorial Chief Coroners and Chief Medical Examiners and the Public Health Agency of Canada. Currently, the CCMED combines investigated death data from all provincial and territorial databases, except for Manitoba. The database contains detailed information on demographics (e.g., age, sex, date of death, province/territory), causes and manner of death, related health conditions, and circumstances of death.
The Canadian Vital Statistics – Death Database (CVSD) includes information on all deaths reported to Statistics Canada by the provincial and territorial vital statistics offices.
The ratio of investigated deaths was calculated by dividing the number of investigated deaths in the CCMED by the total number of deaths for a given sex, age group or province/territory in the CVSD for a given year. The percentage of investigated deaths was obtained by multiplying this ratio by 100.
The total number of fentanyl-related toxicity deaths was obtained by counting the total number of deaths in the CCMED where fentanyl or fentanyl analogues were included in the cause of death statement or identified as having contributed to the death. It is possible for a province or territory to not list specific drugs in the cause of death statement. For this reason, the number of fentanyl-related deaths may be underestimated.
Medical assistance in dying was legalized in Canada in June 2016.
The average number of deaths investigated by coroners and medical examiners (C/MEs) per year is based on data available from 2006 to 2023, which is the period with maximal data coverage. Data for 2024 deaths have been suppressed from the analysis owing to the high numbers of open and ongoing investigations. All data are considered preliminary and include only closed cases. Closed cases refer to completed death investigations (i.e., cause and manner of death are final). Open cases refer to ongoing investigations (i.e., cause and manner of death are pending or preliminary). The percentages of open cases in the CCMED are higher in recent years (5.3% in 2022 and 12.9% in 2023). These percentages decrease as investigations are finalized. For this reason, data for recent years should be interpreted with caution.
Data for some provinces and territories were excluded from this release as counts are incomplete and do not reflect what is included in their respective jurisdictional databases. For the provinces and territories included in the release, data are not available for all years. Data for Alberta, British Columbia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Ontario, Prince Edward Island, Quebec, Saskatchewan and Northwest Territories are available from 2006 to 2023. Data for New Brunswick are available from 2006 to 2020 and 2023. Data for Nova Scotia are available from 2010 to 2023. Data for Nunavut are available from 2010 to 2013 and from 2019 to 2022. Data for Yukon are available for 2006 to 2016 and 2018 to 2021.
Since the source of completeness of the available information varies between jurisdictions, users are advised to exercise caution when comparing data between years and across provinces and territories.
Select jurisdictions investigate stillbirths as per their province/territory legislation. Stillbirths are included in the calculation of the overall proportion of deaths investigated by a C/ME as well as in the calculation of the provincial/territorial totals but are excluded from the calculation of statistics related to age or sex.
Counts referenced in this release were rounded to a neighbouring multiple of five.
Contact information
For more information, or to enquire about the concepts, methods or data quality of this release, contact us (toll-free 1-800-263-1136; 514-283-8300; infostats@statcan.gc.ca) or Media Relations (statcan.mediahotline-ligneinfomedias.statcan@statcan.gc.ca).
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