Sask. Chief Coroner reflects on decades of public service

Saskatchewan’s Chief Coroner Clive Weighill is set to retire at the end of this month, after decades of public service.

“I don’t like to think of retirement, I just like to think I’m moving on to another chapter,” Weighill told CTV News.

His first chapter started when he rose through the ranks to become deputy chief with the Regina Police Service (RPS). In 2006, he left the RPS to become chief of police with the Saskatoon Police Service (SPS).

He joined the force during a challenging time, just two years after a provincial inquiry found the SPS complicit in the “starlight tours” where officers took Indigenous people to the outskirts of city and abandoned them on a cold winter night.

Throughout his time as the city’s top cop, Weighill helped mend relationships with Indigenous communities, pushed for more officers on the streets, improved addictions and mental health services, and got the force a police airplane.

He oversaw the new police headquarters, and the unveiling of the monument for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women.

In 2017, he retired from the SPS, and led an independent review of the Saskatchewan Coroner’s Service.

He provided Don Morgan, the Justice Minister at the time, 44 recommendations. Shortly after, Weighill became the Chief Coroner.

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Now reflecting on his nearly five and half years in that role, he said the service has made strides.

“We’ve implemented 40 of those 44 recommendations,” he said.

Weighill said communication with families have improved and there are more resources.

“Through our training now, we’ve really heightened our investigations. If you were to compare our investigations now, it’s like night and day,” he said.

Weighill said he was already thinking of retiring from the coroner’s service, but when the 2022 tragedy happened in James Smith Cree Nation and Weldon, he wanted to see an inquest through.

“I felt it was incumbent on me to see this inquest through,” he said.

Weighill said he may try a few years in the private sector before he “actually” retires, and then, like many retirees, he plans to do a lot of fishing.