BY MEGAN MARTIN, THE GAZETTE JULY 25, 2010
The Surete du Quebec’s Wilfrid Derome Building on Parthenais St. houses much more than a morgue. The Laboratoire de sciences judiciaires et de medecine legale for the province has specialists that analyze evidence in many fields, including ballistics, explosives, toxicology and such biological sciences as DNA. Bestselling author and forensic anthropologist Kathy Reichs has worked at the lab for several years.
A native of Chicago, Reichs now divides her time between the Montreal lab and North Carolina, where she is a professor in the anthropology department at the University of North Carolina-Charlotte. She is also a member of the National Police Services Advisory Council in Canada. A renowned expert in her field, she works to separate and identify commingled bones at the Montreal lab. The television show Bones, of which she is a producer, is based on her novels.
Opened in 1914 by Dr. Wilfrid Derome, the lab was the first of its kind in North America and only the third scientific institution geared toward investigating criminal activity worldwide.
For more information, visit www.securitepublique.gouv.qc.ca
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