Quebec's ombudsman opens investigation into long wait times for death certificates

Quebec's ombudsman is investigating delays in issuing death certificates in the province following a high number of complaints, the office confirmed Thursday. 

In a story published last week, CBC News found delays continued to get worse months after the government promised to improve wait times.

Last spring, it took on average more than 40 working days to register a death in Quebec. That's for applications that were not missing any information. Once the death is registered, a certificate is typically issued within a week.

The delay increased to 52 working days by the end of May, and then as of Aug. 4, the average time jumped to 55.85 working days, according to the most recent statistics available from the Employment Ministry.

The ministry oversees the civil status registrar, the agency responsible for registering births, marriages and deaths.

CBC News has spoken with families who have been stuck waiting for the certificate for up to seven months. 

mong them was Lynda Baker-Thorslund, whose father died in December. She finally received his death certificate on Wednesday.

"It really slows things down at a time when you're trying to wrap things up, and it's emotional," she told CBC News on Thursday. "Seven months seems like a very long time to get a certificate."

Her father, who lived in Montreal his entire life, was married to Baker-Thorslund's mother for 63 years. As she helped arrange her father's finances for her mother, some banks accepted the funeral home's death certificate, but others wouldn't.

"If I was the executor for the estate, maybe you have a property to sell or something, it's quite the delay and there's no explanation as to why," she said. "I just wonder how much research they have to do in order to issue a death certificate."

In a letter sent to families, obtained by Radio-Canada, the ombudsman's office said it hopes to intervene to help find solutions to the issue. 

In a phone interview, Joseph Simoneau, director of communications for the office, said the investigation will include an analysis of all the complaints.

He said recommendations to solve the issue will be conveyed directly to the departments responsible, but he could not say whether a report would be made public. 

Simoneau could not confirm how many complaints are being investigated but said others who have been affected by the delays are welcome to file one.