Northern B.C. is comprised of more than half a million square kilometres with a population of less than 250,000. It is both wild and at the same time accessible, with more than 50,000 km of forest service roads, to say nothing of rivers and lakes.

As the consulting forensic anthropologist in Northern B.C. for more than two decades, Dr. Richard Lazenby, an Anthropology Professor at the University of Northern British Columbia, has worked on numerous cases in the region.

Dr. Lazenby will discuss the challenges and rewards of doing forensic anthropology in rural and remote areas at a free talk entitled, Death in the Bush: Forensic Anthropology in the Rural Remote on Wednesday, Nov. 1 from 7 to 9 p.m. at ArtSpace – above Books & Company, 1685 3rd Ave. in Prince George.

Dr. Lazenby will talk about some the cases, including Before DNA We Had Toenails; The Amputation That Wasn’t; Heads Will Roll; Ashes to Ashes; The Coroner Caters, and Where’s Vernon?

“Death is an experience that we will all share, and for most of us it will be fairly mundane – old age, disease – and very likely in bed. But for some, through their own actions of those of others, death may come suddenly, sadly, and secretly. The task of forensic anthropology is to help unlock that secret, to restore that person in death to their proper place in the social fabric, and to assist authorities seeking justice,” said Dr. Lazenby

Dr. Lazenby has worked closely with the B.C. Coroner’s Service and the RCMP in the investigation of found human remains, from cremations to single isolated bones to the Pickton Farm, and has been an expert witness in seven homicide trials.

Dr. Lazenby’s talk is the first of three this fall in UNBC’s Anthropology in our Backyards series.