Voices are rising in British Columbia in Western Canada to demand autopsies of people who die after overdosing on drugs.

The victims' families find that the British Columbia Coroners Service lacks important information.

Greg Sword waited more than a full year to find out the official cause of death of his 14-year-old daughter Camilla.

Her body was found in her bedroom in Port Coquitlam in the summer of 2022, with all evidence pointing to death by overdose.

The father says: "I thought they would perform an autopsy, but they only prepared a report on the types of toxins or drugs." "I received this report 14 months after my daughter's death," the father says.

The coroner's report concludes that the teenager died due to cocaine and ecstasy use, despite finding other drugs in her body.

The coroner's report increased doubts in Greg Sword himself when his daughter's friends told him she was seeking to possess hydromorphone the night she died.

The father believes this substance is what killed his daughter, asking, "Shouldn't the body have been autopsied which could have led to this conclusion?"

Statistics Canada indicates that the autopsy rate in British Columbia is among the lowest in the country. Forensic doctors say this is a problem when it comes to identifying major trends in public health matters.

Forensic judge Matthew Ordie says, "The low autopsy rate is a scandal; this means we are unable to determine how and why our loved ones died."

In his report on Camilla's death, for example, coroner Dean Campbell wrote that the teenager died due to irregular heartbeat caused by cocaine and ecstasy use. There is little chance that other drugs found played a role in her death.

While forensic judge Ordie opposes this conclusion. In his opinion, the autopsy results allow for determining a particular context, and without that, it is difficult to know the cause of death. He adds: "For me, the cause of Camilla Sword’s death is undetermined."

The British Columbia Coroners Service reported that 85% of deaths due to overdose do not undergo autopsy.

Coroner's spokesman Ryan Panton explains that if it is believed that the death resulted from uncontrolled drugs based on a thorough examination of the scene, body, and medical history of the body, and if toxicology confirms a lethal amount of drugs, then the coroner may consider that there is no need for an autopsy.

According to Statistics Canada, the autopsy rate in British Columbia dropped from 22% in 1991 to 3.2% in 2022. Among Canadian provinces with populations over one million, British Columbia ranks just after Quebec for having the lowest autopsy rate.

Not all deaths in the Pacific coast province require investigation. However, the Coroners Service is required to investigate all unnatural, sudden, unexpected, unexplained, or unobservable deaths.

It is noted that many Canadian provinces rank higher than British Columbia in terms of autopsy rates.

In a related context, a new chief of the Coroners Service is to be appointed to replace the current chief Lisa Lapointe. British Columbia Premier David Eby said he is confident that the future chief will be able to give families of overdose victims the answers they need.