TRURO: The public inquiry into April 2020’s mass shooting and arson rampage is in its third and final phase with a focus on coming up with recommendations to help keep Canadian communities safer.
Access to firearms, the role of gender-based and intimate-partner violence, interactions with police, the RCMP response and communications with the public and families of victims before and after the tragedy, and the perpetrator’s access to retired police vehicles, kit and clothing are among the considerations.
Michael MacDonald, the retired Nova Scotia judge who’s heading up the government-appointed Mass Casualty Commission, said at the beginning of last week’s hearings that the recommendations will be “clear, pragmatic and ready to be implemented, so that people across our governments, institutions and communities can take action right away.”
With a torrent of information to consider, the list of recommendations won’t be available until March 31, 2023, after the commission asked the federal and provincial governments last week for a five-month extension to file its final report.
The commission started its inquiry in September 2021 and the public hearings began in February, after a couple of delays due in part due to COVID restrictions.
The 13-hour rampage by the gunman disguised as a Mountie and driving a replica police vehicle is the worst mass casualty in modern Canadian history, with 22 people killed, including a pregnant woman and an RCMP officer.
The commission had 17 crime scenes to consider, and its investigative team prepared 31 extensive “foundational documents” to share key facts and events leading up to and during the massacre that began in the small community of Portapique and ended when RCMP officers shot the gunman after a chance encounter at a gas station in Enfield.
In its investigation, the commission has gathered and analyzed roughly 40,000 pages of evidence, 230 video and audio files, in addition witness interviews and site visits by members of its 60-person staff.
Despite the delay for the final report, the hearings are on track to wrap up at the end of September, with roundtables on topics such as police oversight and the structure of policing in Nova Scotia.
Lawyers representing participants in the inquiry, including family members of victims, will have an opportunity to provide final written and oral submissions at the close of the hearings.
The commission also has been encouraging the public to weigh in with suggestions.
Ottawa and the province have committed $47.5-million to cover the cost of the inquiry.