TORONTO - Ontario wants to adopt all of the legislative changes recommended in a scathing judicial report on a forensics scandal that branded innocent people as child killers.

The proposed bill, introduced Thursday, would create a new oversight council, a complaints committee and a provincial forensic pathology service.

Community Safety and Correctional Services Minister Rick Bartolucci said the changes will make Ontario's death investigation system stronger, more accountable and provide for greater oversight and transparency.

They address all the recommended legislative amendments outlined by Justice Stephen Goudge following his inquiry into pediatric forensic pathology, Bartolucci told the legislature.

"Commissioner Goudge gave us the road map to a stronger, more accountable death investigation system," he said. "This legislation takes us a long way down that road."

The inquiry focused largely on the flawed work of Dr. Charles Smith.

Goudge's 1,000-page slammed Smith, along with Ontario's former chief coroner and his deputy, for their roles in wrongful prosecutions.

One man spent a dozen years in prison after being convicted in 1994 of the rape and murder of his four-year-old niece, who was later found to have died of natural causes.

If passed, Bartolucci said, the legislation would "ensure we have the checks and balances" in place to prevent similar tragedies.

A new death investigation oversight council, made up of experts from the medical, legal and government communities, would oversee the work of the chief coroner and chief forensic pathologist to ensure the quality of the system.

The proposed legislation would also remove the power to call an inquiry from the government, handing it instead to the chief coroner, a plan NDP critic Andrea Horwath called shameful.

"To take away the minister's right to actually call for an inquest is absolutely unacceptable," she told the legislature.

"We're left with a watering down of the rights of the people of Ontario to have their elected members, particularly their ministers, speak on their behalf on important issues like the death of loved ones and the people in their community."

Ontario Chief Coroner Dr. Andrew McCallum said he was encouraged by the proposed changes.

"This legislation would provide us the framework we need to truly revitalize the system, and to help us build on the work we've already done to earn back the trust of the people of Ontario," he said.

Goudge asked the province create a clear legislative framework for forensic pathologists, as well as a specialized forensic unit. He also recommended the province establish a council to oversee the chief coroner's office, and the position of chief forensic pathologist.

Goudge made 169 recommendations, although not all of those involved legislative changes.

He called on the Ontario government to consider compensation for those affected by the work of once-esteemed pathologist Charles Smith - something the province said it would do.

Bartolucci has already apologized on behalf of the province.

If passed, the legislation introduced Thursday would constitute the first significant change to the Coroner's Act since 1970.