Fatal Claims and Bereavement Damages by Province

Bereavement damages are what a family recovers when an injury kills the person. They are not the general damages the deceased could have claimed, and they come from provincial fatal accidents legislation rather than from the common law. Each Atlantic province has its own statute, its own list of who may claim, and its own heads of loss.

Two Separate Claims Arise From a Death

The estate can continue the claim the deceased had. That covers the loss suffered between the injury and the death, including pain and suffering during that period. Separately, the statute gives named family members a claim of their own for what the death cost them. A death that is immediate leaves the estate claim very small and puts the weight on the family claim.

What Bereavement Damages Compensate

The statutory claim covers the loss of guidance, care and companionship the deceased would have provided, along with pecuniary loss such as lost financial support and funeral expenses. Some provinces also recognise grief as a head of its own. The amounts are fixed by the court on evidence about the actual relationship rather than by a tariff, so a dependent child and an adult sibling are treated very differently. The statutes are published on CanLII.

Who Can Claim Differs by Province

New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador each define the class of claimants by statute, generally a spouse, a parent, a child and in some provinces a wider group. Common law and de facto relationships are not treated identically across the four. The correct list is the one in the statute in force where the death occurred.

Limitation Periods Are Short and Separate

Fatal claims carry their own limitation periods, which can be shorter than the ordinary injury limitation period in the same province, and they run from the date of death. Missing the date ends the family claim regardless of its merits, so it should be confirmed at the outset.

What the Firm Does

The firm acts for families on fatal accident claims across Atlantic Canada, including New Brunswick fatal injury files, with no fee unless the claim resolves. How a court values non-pecuniary loss generally is set out in how courts assess general damages.