SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - After two years at the helm of the coroner's office, Garth Eggenberger is stepping down.

After two years as chief coroner, Garth Eggenberger has moved on from his position, making way for Cathy Menard, the deputy chief coroner for the past 14 years, to officially take over the helm at the NWT coroner's office. -

Deputy chief coroner Cathy Menard, someone Eggenberger says knows the ins and outs of the job, will take over.

"She was doing the job long before me," Eggenberger said Thursday afternoon, adding Menard has plenty of experience in the coroner's office.

Menard, who has been deputy chief coroner since 1996, has acted as chief coroner for extended periods of time, including the stretch between Percy Kinney's resignation and Eggenberger assuming the role.

With his contract coming to an end after his appointment in 2008, Eggenberger said he did not want to take on the chief coroner position full-time as a government employee, which is how the GNWT reclassified the position.

"It would have required more time and I just didn't want to do that," he said, adding he wants to focus his efforts on his automotive business.

Menard said the move to bring the position back into government was to help bring more stability to the office by improving succession planning and training.

"By moving me up they can bring someone new in and I can pass on the knowledge," she said.

Eggenberger was in the press recently for his criticism of the NWT Mental Health Act and Stanton Territorial Hospital's lack of mental health support. A coroner's report released this year on the death of a 20-year-old man in Yellowknife in February 2009 detailed how the man died from an overdose of an antidepressant prescribed by the hospital. Eggenberger said more needs to be done to help patients who come into the hospital with mental health issues, particularly relating to suicide.

In one of his last duties as chief coroner, Eggenberger sat at the head of an inquest into the death of a Cambridge Bay man who jumped from a plane during a flight from Yellowknife last April. The inquest determined the man's death to be a suicide and Stanton Territorial Hospital was advised to develop a way to record information from the time patients struggling with mental health issues are admitted until they are discharged, including any notes or relevant details from the RCMP.

Eggenberger said there was no pressure from the health department to leave his post.

"I am pleased with what I was able to do," he said. "I think I accomplished what I set out to do."

He finished his duties at the beginning of April when Menard officially took over the job. During her 14 years as deputy chief coroner, Menard has investigated more than 1,500 deaths across the NWT and Nunavut.