Larger review needed: PM
Trudeau says Canada will work to ensure review into shooting in Nova Scotia happens
OTTAWA — More than a month after a mass shooting in Nova Scotia took the lives of 22 people, the federal government is still falling short of committing to lead a full public inquiry into what happened.
But comments by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau Thursday seem to hint he is at least open to the idea.
Earlier this week Nova Scotia Justice Minister Mark Furey said in a radio interview that some sort of a public review or inquiry will take place, but reiterated the province’s stance that the federal government needs to take the lead.
On Thursday, Premier Stephen Mcneil said a joint review is necessary because any sort of inquiry would involve a number of federal bodies, such as the RCMP, the firearm registry and the Department of Public Safety, and without leadership from the federal government, no recommendations from the inquiry would be binding.
“They need to be at the table in a joint effort so when the recommendations come out they will be implemented. We owe that to those 22 families, and doing anything less than that, I think, Nova Scotians have failed them, and I am not going to let that happen,” Mcneil said.
“We will continue to demand that the national government step up and come to the table. We will be there as an equal partner, and they need to be there."
Continuing the ongoing back and forth over who would need to take the reins on such a review, Trudeau agreed Thursday that a review needs to happen, and said the federal government will work with Nova Scotia to ensure that it does.
“We have been in very close conversation with the provincial government on this. We recognize that Nova Scotians and indeed all Canadians have significant questions about what happened,” Trudeau said in response to a question from Saltwire Network during Thursday’s news conference.
“The RCMP is continuing their detailed investigation into the events, but there needs to be a larger review. Canada will work with Nova Scotia in ensuring that it happens in the right way.”
Trudeau has provided similar answers in the past when asked about the possibility of a federally led inquiry, but Thursday is the closest he’s come to committing to working with the province on a larger review.
There still seems to be no commitment on either side on leading the review, however, and no details have been provided about what would be involved and when it might take place.
Speaking with reporters Thursday, Furey said in order to be effective, any review or inquiry would need to be independent and would need to have the authority to call on witnesses to provide input, and those witnesses would need protection.
Furey also said families would need to play a meaningful role.
“Past discussions around inquiries, to be quite frank, have been ‘about them without them’ and that's simply unacceptable, so we're trying to … ensure families have a role to play rather than sitting as bystanders,” he said.
“And it’s not just about the incident, both psychological and sociological elements that may intersect with domestic violence, with gender-based violence, with mental health also have to form part of these discussions.”
Furey said although it’s important to launch the process as soon as possible, it also needs to be done right.
“I want to ensure the platform … is as broad in scope as it can be so the outcome and recommendations are those that both the federal government and the provincial government can implement. Only then we will be able to effect change.”
Furey said the province is in the final stages of talking to the federal government and he is hopeful the province will be able to say something next week about what the review or inquiry process will look like.