The Office of the Chief Coroner (OCC) for Ontario provides death investigations and inquests, when necessary, to ensure that no death is overlooked, concealed or ignored. The OCC use the findings to generate recommendations to help improve public safety and prevent future deaths in similar circumstances. The OCC distributes all verdicts and recommendations to organizations for them to implement, including:

  • agencies
  • associations
  • government ministries
  • other identified organizations may be identified in the recommendations

The OCC asks recipients to respond within six months to indicate if the recommendation(s) was implemented, and if not, the rationale for their position.

The Office of the Chief Coroner posts verdicts and recommendations for all inquests for the current and previous year. Older verdicts and recommendations, and responses to recommendations are available by request by:

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February

Hashemi, Taher

Held at: virtual, 25 Morton Shulman Avenue, Toronto  
From: February 2 
To: February 4, 2026 
By: Dr. Geoffrey Bond, presiding officer for Ontario  
having been duly sworn/affirmed, have inquired into and determined the following:

Name of deceased: Taher Hashemi  
Age: 49 
Date and time of death: August 24, 2021 
Place of death: Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre 
Cause of death: hanging 
By what means: suicide

(Original signed by: Foreperson)

The verdict was received on February 4, 2026
Coroner's name: Dr. Geoffrey Bond  
(Original signed by presiding officer for Ontario)

We, the jury, wish to make the following recommendations:

Inquest into the death of: Taher Hashemi

Jury recommendations
We, the jury, recommend to the Ottawa-Carleton Detention Centre (OCDC) and the Ministry of the Solicitor General:
  1. Court dispositions or notable proceedings, events, or results for days in court for inmates who are in the stabilization or health care units should be communicated to the OCDC health care team.
  2. Relevant minutes from health care planning for high-risk inmates should be recorded and documented and available in the health care records so that all members of the inmate's health care team have access.
  3. Recreational materials should be proactively provided to long-term inmates who are in the stabilization or health care units (such as additional reading material, crossword puzzles, sudoku, newspapers, etc.).
  4. For long-term inmates (as determined by OCDC) who are facing persistent mental health challenges, health care plan revisions should take into account an inmate's duration of stay and the period until the next court date.
  5. Room implements (i.e. light fixtures, bedding, anchor points, etc.) should be re-assessed in order to remove any means of an inmate potentially harming themselves.