Opposition says Sask. families wait too long for coroner's reports

The Opposition's justice critic says families in Saskatchewan are waiting far too long for answers about how their loved onesdied.

The NDP's Nicole Sarauerasked the government about the case of NadineMachiskinic, who died in January 2015.

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She says the family's suffering has been dragged out for nearly18 months, while it waits for the results of a coroner's report.

"The fact of the matter is the families need answers and they need answers faster than they're getting now," Sarauer told reporters after question period.

Justice Minister Gord Wyant agreed.

He said the bottleneck in the system is with toxicology reports, which must be done by the provincial laboratory before a coroner's report can be completed.

Wyant said he does not know why the toxicology testsaretaking so long.

"We need to find out the reasons for the delays and we need to do what we can to ensure that those toxicology reports and those tests are done in a more timely way," Wyant said.

Wyant confirmed the coroner's report into Machiskinic's death has now been completed and sent to Regina police.

The government says the province's chief coroner has scheduled a meeting with members ofMachiskinic's familynext week to discuss the results of his investigation.

It says thereport will be provided to them at that time.