The Centre of Forensic Sciences (CFS) is a laboratory providing
forensic science
Forensic science, also known as criminalistics, is the application of science to criminal and civil laws, mainly—on the criminal side—during criminal investigation, as governed by the legal standards of admissible evidence and criminal ...
services to
law enforcement agencies
A law enforcement agency (LEA) is any government agency responsible for the enforcement of the laws.
Jurisdiction
LEAs which have their ability to apply their powers restricted in some way are said to operate within a jurisdiction.
LEA ...
in
Ontario
Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central Ca ...
,
Canada
Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...
. It is part of the government of
Ontario Ministry of Solicitor General public safety division.
History
Founding of the Centre of Forensic Sciences
The roots of the centre are in the creation of the Attorney General's Laboratory in 1951. The first home was at an old mansion at 11 Queen's Park Crescent and then moved to the old
Victoria Hospital for Sick Children
Victoria Hospital for Sick Children is a building in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The building served as a hospital until 1951 and currently serves as a blood centre. The building has received a Commendation of Adaptive Re-use from the Toronto Hist ...
at College and Elizabeth Streets.
It was renamed the Centre of Forensic Sciences in 1966, transferred to the new Ministry of the Solicitor General in 1972 and again to the Ministry of Community Safety and Correctional Services in 2002. The Northern Regional Laboratory was opened in
Sault Ste. Marie in 1992 to serve Northern Ontario.
The Northern Regional Laboratory was mandated by the Ontario Government in 1986 and became operational in 1992 at Roberta Bondar Place in
Sault Ste. Marie.
The NRL was started with a staff of 13 personnel under Lab Manager Dr. John Wells, PhD. The NRL serves areas north and west of
Sudbury.
Modern era
The inquiries, and the Askov decision (dismissed charges from unreasonable delay in awaiting crown preparation for trial), in the 1990s led CFS to receive increased staffing and reorganize to improve the speed and quality of forensic services.
Inquires and other governmental recommendations
The Kaufman Commission of Inquiry
The
Kaufman Inquiry was ordered by the Ontario Government to investigate and make recommendations regarding the wrongful conviction of Guy Paul Morin in the murder of Christine Jessop in 1984. A substantial portion of the arrest warrant and prosecution case against Mr. Morin relied on hair and fibre evidence supplied by CFS. Additionally it came to light that CFS had inadequate tracking of evidence being processed through the lab. Problems were also exposed regarding inappropriate police communications between police and forensic scientists. Mr. Morin was exonerated by DNA evidence in 1995. The Kaufman Inquiry resulted in 119 recommendations of which a number applied to the role of CFS.
The Campbell Inquiry
The Campbell Inquiry in 1999 looked into the police and justice system failings around the Paul Bernardo case. As a sexual assault suspect, Bernardo was sampled for DNA comparison to case evidence by Metro Toronto Police in November 1990 but the sample was not analyzed by CFS until December 1992. During this time Bernardo had moved to another region and committed four additional sexual assaults and two sadistic sexual murders.
2007 Annual Report of the Office of the Auditor General of Ontario
Chapter 3 of the 2007 annual Auditor General's report dealt with the Centre of Forensic Sciences. Specifically, it made observations and recommendations about CFS turn-around time performance and efficiency. The report made 5 recommendations regarding; improving case turn-around times, consulting clients about turn-around targets, tracking effects of urgent cases, analysis of causes for longer than target turn-around times, and tracking efficiency in dollars and inter-laboratory comparisons.
The Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario (Goudge Inquiry)
The
Goudge Inquiry The Inquiry into Pediatric Forensic Pathology in Ontario, commonly known as the Goudge Inquiry, was created to address serious concerns over the way criminally suspicious deaths involving children are handled by the Province of Ontario in Canada. Th ...
was initiated to look at the work of Dr.
Charles Smith, who erred in numerous pediatric forensic pathology cases through the 1990s. The inquiry also examined the system for forensic pathology in Ontario as a whole. Although this inquiry did not directly concern CFS there were several recommendations applicable to CFS. The director of CFS, Dr. Ray Prime testified at the inquiry regarding CFS quality system and positive changes to the forensic lab stemming from the Kaufman Inquiry. The Inquiry recommended CFS to collaborate with the Office of the Chief Coroner to improve turn-around times for toxicology reports, which are usually prevalent in forensic pathology. Also, CFS is to collaborate with the Office of the Chief Coroner to better prioritize urgent forensic samples. The report also asked the director of CFS (or delegate) to sit on a governing council to guide improvements in the work of the Office of the Chief Coroner and forensic pathology.
Locations and jurisdictions
The main location for the CFS is 25 Morton Shulman Avenue in Toronto. The state-of-the-art laboratory was completed in 2012, and currently houses the Office of the Chief Coroner, the Ontario Forensic Pathology Service and the Centre of Forensic Sciences. The building, designed by
Stantec
Stantec Inc. is an international professional services company in the design and consulting industry. The company was founded in 1954, as ''D. R. Stanley Associates'' in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada. Stantec provides professional consulting servi ...
and built under a public-private partnership by
Carillion
Carillion plc was a British multinational construction and facilities management services company headquartered in Wolverhampton in the United Kingdom, prior to its liquidation in January 2018.
Carillion was created in July 1999, following a ...
, provides 663,000 square feet of accommodation and has the capacity for more than 2,500 autopsies and over 15,000 forensic science cases per year.
References
External links
Forensic Services and Coroner’s Complex home page
{{authority control
1966 establishments in Ontario
Ontario government departments and agencies
Law enforcement agencies of Ontario
Forensics organizations
Government agencies established in 1966
Laboratories in Canada
Science and technology in Ontario
Science and technology in Toronto