Statement June 26, 2017 Today Attorney General Yasir Naqvi and Minister of Health and Long-Term Care, Eric Hoskins, issued the following statement: "On behalf of the Ontario government, we want to express our deepest condolences to the victims, their families and the communities in Woodstock and London and the surrounding areas. What happened was a tragedy. That's why we are establishing an independent public inquiry to look into the circumstances in this case. Our next step is to formally establish the public inquiry through an Order in Council. The order will set out the scope of the inquiry and appoint the commissioner who will lead it. The government is actively engaged in finalizing these details and, once approved, will make them available to the public. We want to assure the public that Ontario's 78,000 long-term care residents are safe in their homes. Our oversight system in long-term care specifically focuses on the safety and security of our residents and we will continue to work to ensure all of our homes are meeting the highest standards. It is our hope that through the inquiry process, we will get the answers we need to help ensure that a tragedy such as this does not happen again." |