HALIFAX: Lawyers representing families in the public inquiry into April 2020’s mass shooting and arson rampage might be ending last week’s boycott, but distrust in the probe lingers.
The Mass Casualty Commission’s decision to not allow cross examination of some senior RCMP officers triggered the boycott, along with protests outside the hearings in Truro by many family members of the 22 people killed, others affected by the tragedy and supporters.
The special accommodation, part of the provincially- and federally-appointed commission’s trauma-informed approach, led one law firm representing some of the families to ask the commission to amend the rules to enshrine the right for lawyers representing families and survivors to question witnesses directly. It is now at the commission’s discretion.
Emily Hill, the commission’s senior lawyer, told reporters Friday that the request is being considered. She said no one else has asked for special accommodations to appear as witnesses but didn’t rule out future requests.
More are likely, with many more RCMP officers and others, such as the killer’s common-law spouse Lisa Banfield, set to testify.
“I would not be surprised if future witnesses, including Lisa Banfield, did ask for accommodations having seen how freely they appear to be granted, though that may change after what we saw this week,” Adam Rodgers, a Guysborough lawyer who’s following the proceedings, told Advocate Media. “Most people who watched the sergeant and staff sergeant who testified this week by pre-taped Zoom video, with the extraordinary condition of not having to face cross examination, would conclude that the accommodations did not seem necessary.”
Banfield’s lawyer, Toronto-based Craig Zeeh, didn’t respond to a request for comment. Lawyers at Patterson law, which represents most of the families, didn’t respond to interview requests by deadline.
Witnesses can request accommodations for health or privacy reasons.
The information is kept confidential. The senior RCMP officers, who directed the force’s attempt to find the killer and end the rampage, testified in recorded video interviews, answering direct questions from commission lawyers only. Non-commission lawyers could only submit questions in advance.
Rodgers, who represented Lionel Desmond’s estate at the fatality inquiry probing the circumstances that led the Afghanistan veteran to kill his family and himself, said the accommodations seem to have been directed by RCMP management rather than the officers themselves.
“One of the benefits to the RCMP was that many fewer people likely watched the taped testimony as compared to the livestream, and so any evidence that shows the police in a negative light is doing so to a smaller audience,” he said.
The boycott and protests put a spotlight on the special treatment for the senior officers, while other members of the RCMP took the stand earlier in the hearings and endured questioning from outside lawyers.
Asked by reporters if the move was draining public trust in the proceedings, Hill said the boycott and protests were concerning, but the commission will continue to work and engage with the families.
Rodgers said the stance might be a misstep.
“The commission seems to be searching for a way to foster public trust without openly admitting that anything they themselves have done, procedurally or substantively, may have damaged that trust,” he said.
“Their approach ironically mirrors the problematic approach of the RCMP they are supposed to be critiquing. Like the RCMP, they make or release these carefully worded statements, rather than demonstrating any contrition or growth.”
Hearings resumed Monday in Truro, with that town’s police chief taking the stand to talk about his force’s limited interaction with the RCMP during the rampage. The focus for much this week will be on the RCMP’s heavily criticized communication approach, which relied on Twitter to alert people a killer was on the loose and failed to say early on that he was disguised as an RCMP officer and driving a replica police cruiser.
Hearings will continue through the summer.
Asked if the commission will meet its November deadline to file a final report with recommendations on how to avoid a similar tragedy, Hill declined to say, saying the focus now is on the hearings.