FREDERICTON (GNB) – Jérome Ouellette has been appointed chief coroner for the Province of New Brunswick, Justice and Public Safety Minister Hugh J. Flemming announced today.
“Mr. Ouellette has been an asset to the Office of the Chief Coroner for many years in several capacities,” Flemming said. “His leadership, dedication to the public service and 33 years of experience will serve him and New Brunswickers well.”
Ouellette started his career with the province in 1985 as a correctional officer at the Madawaska Regional Correctional Centre. In 1987, he was named deputy sheriff-coroner in Saint John before taking on the same role in Edmundston. From 2002 to 2015 he was the regional coroner for the Edmundston and Grand Falls area. In 2015, he was named deputy chief coroner. He had been the acting chief coroner since 2019.
Ouellette has presided over many inquests in both official languages and has chaired both the Child Death Review Committee and the Domestic Violence Death Review Committee for more than four years. He retired as a senior officer in the Canadian Armed Forces Reserve in 1998.
The New Brunswick Coroner Service is an independent fact-finding agency that investigates sudden and unexpected deaths to ensure that no such death is overlooked, concealed or ignored. A coroner's investigation may result in a full investigation and formal report of the coroner's findings, or in an inquest – an independent public hearing involving a jury and the examination of witnesses.
02-02-21