NL Health Services has created a public website on which the identities of unclaimed bodies in storage will be listed as a last ditch means to notify any family that cannot be notified, but the NDP is urging due diligence in how the situation is handled.

The province was shocked to learn that the health authority had brought in a number of freezer units last year in which to store a growing number of unclaimed human remains.

Since then, legislative changes were made to allow NLHS to manage the situation and respectfully bury any bodies left once every reasonable effort is made to identify next of kin.

NDP Leader Jim Dinn is calling on government and NLHS to clearly define what constitutes ‘due diligence’ in efforts to locate the next of kin of unclaimed remains.

He says the health authority indicates that the process will include 14 days of ‘due diligence’ to locate next of kin, followed by five days of public notice online, but he says questions remain and he wants to know whether additional resources have been allocated to address the process and is urging greater transparency.