More than 20 coroners from across the territory gathered for a workshop to fine-tune their skills in areas such as critical incident stress management and sudden death investigations.

Murray Scott, one of four coroners from Fort Smith, practises taking fluid samples from an orange to ensure he uses proper procedure when taking blood samples from corpses. - Tara Kearsey/NNSL photo

But the coroners were dealing with a loss of their own this weekend.

Saturday afternoon the "grave realities" workshop was interrupted when chief coroner Percy Kinney was called to investigate a fatality from a motor vehicle crash on Highway 3 between Rae-Edzo and Fort Providence.

The victim was 57-year-old Daniel Frederick Harvey of Kugluktuk. He too was a coroner.

"All of these coroners knew him very well," said Kinney.

Harvey and a female passenger were going around a turn when the vehicle he was driving hit an icy patch, went over an embankment and rolled several times. He died of massive head injuries. Harvey was wearing a seat-belt at the time of the accident, RCMP said.

Harvey was a coroner in Kugluktuk when Nunavut became a territory in 1999. Prior to division he worked closely with all of the NWT coroners for several years.

But the workshop carried on. After all, dealing with death is what a coroner does.

"We try to take death in stride all the time, but it's always a little tougher when it's close to home," said Kinney.

Coroners working in small communities outside Yellowknife tackle sudden death investigations of friends and family members all the time.

That's something Kinney doesn't often have to deal with himself.

"I envy all of my coroners and their ability to deal with that on a regular basis.

"It has happened, but it's relatively rare that I go to a scene where I know the person, and my coroners in the communities rarely go to a scene where they don't know the person, and sometimes they are related to the person. I don't know how they deal with it," he said.

Murray Scott, one of four coroners in Fort Smith, has been called to investigate the death of a co-worker in the past. As one of the more experienced coroners, he has been in the field for almost 18 years.

"Because I was the only coroner at the time I had to attend and speak with the family ... it was very difficult," he said.

But life always goes on for a coroner.

The workshop was geared at providing both new and experienced coroners an opportunity to fine-tune their skills and inform them about new issues they should be aware of.

On the second day of the workshop the coroners participated in a presentation on West Nile virus.

Kinney said because West Nile has been frequently mentioned in the media this past year, some coroners have raised concerns about the possibility of a death from it kind occurring in the North.

"There have been concerns about people who have died of a flu-like illness ... so we wanted to enlighten our coroners about it and primarily put people's minds at rest," he said.

To date, West Nile has not been an issue in the North and Kinney said it most likely will not become one. But he wanted to ensure his coroners were well-informed.

Aside from the West Nile session, Scott found the presentation on post-traumatic stress syndrome very informative.

"There are always new things that you pick up.

"It's beneficial whether you're a brand new coroner or somebody who has 10 years' experience.

"There are certain times when you're dealing with a situation, a co-worker who has passed on or if you're dealing with a family, and this training helps you help them get through the process," he said.