Investigation begins after medical examiner uses truck trailer for body storage

EDMONTON — The Alberta government is investigating after video surfaced showing a medical examiner’s office using a truck trailer to store dead bodies and one corpse being roughly hauled and handled.

The Justice Department says in a statement that it wants answers and expects all workers involved to follow policies ensuring deceased people are treated with dignity.

The investigation follows a CBC story and a video showing a purported funeral home employee dragging and tugging on a body bag to get it off the truck beside a busy commuter road near the medical examiner’s office in Edmonton.

The CBC also reported that internal medical examiner office emails say the refrigerated trailer was brought in last week to handle a sudden spike in bodies.

The emails also included inter-office concerns on storing bodies that way.

Opposition NDP critic David Shepherd agrees the government needs to get some answers, but it first needs to apologize to the families of the deceased.