Inquiry into pediatric forensic pathology in Ontario report : Rapport de la commission d'enquête sur la médecine légale pédiatrique en Ontario

It is all a fine balance: THE SCOPE AND APPROACH OF THE INQUIRY | 637 investigating the facts and presenting the evidence in a manner that is in propor- tion to their overall significance to the Inquiry’s mandate. [...] It provides: “If during the course of the inquiry the Commission receives information, including in writing, from victims or families, the Commission may authorize the provision of counselling assistance.” These services were encompassed within the budget pro- vided to the Commission. [...] To eliminate the need for either my counsel or the Ministry of the Attorney General to review the accounts of counsel for the parties, the min- istry retained Larry Banack, a senior litigator in private practice, with no connec- tion to our Inquiry, to review every account and to ensure that it was consistent with my ruling. [...] The Province of Ontario, for the purposes of this Inquiry, sought and was granted standing on behalf of the ministries, agents, and servants of the Crown, with the exception of the OCCO, its employees and agents. [...] RULES OF PROCEDURE The Public Inquiries Act provides that, subject to certain provisions in the Act, the conduct of an inquiry and the procedure to be followed are under the control and direction of the commissioner conducting the inquiry.20 One of the first tasks I asked Commission counsel to do was to draft Rules of Procedure.21 Counsel collected the rules that had been used in many other provin