Expert fears limits on probe into Desmond killings

A long-awaited public inquiry into the death of an Afghan war veteran who killed his family and himself in rural Nova Scotia last year could be derailed by jurisdictional squabbling, a leading expert on judicial probes says.

The problem: the provincial inquiry is looking at issues that may go deep into federal jurisdiction.

“There may be limits on what the province can look into,” said Ed Ratushny, a professor emeritus at the University of Ottawa’s law school.

“It’s a question of constitutional law, as to what the boundaries are between the province and the federal government ... It could be a significant barrier to fully exploring the issue.”

Almost a year after Lionel Desmond fatally shot himself and his mother, wife and 10-year-old daughter in Upper Big Tracadie, N.S., the Nova Scotia government bowed to public pressure last month when it confirmed a judicial fatality inquiry would be held under the Fatality Investigations Act.

The inquiry’s terms of reference — the legally binding rules that govern what the inquiry can do — are still being drafted by the provincial Justice Department. They were expected to be completed by the end of this month.

Ratushny, author of the 2009 book “The Conduct of Public Inquiries,” said even if the inquiry is given a broad mandate, the judge’s work will be complicated by the fact that he or she will be investigating matters of federal jurisdiction.

Family members have repeatedly complained that Desmond, who served two tours in Afghanistan in 2007 and was later diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, did not get the help he needed from the federal Defence Department or the federal Veterans Affairs Department. The issues have resonance well beyond the Desmond killings. More than 130 serving military personnel have taken their own lives since 2010, according to National Defence, including eight between January and August 2017. Officials have not been able to determine the number of suicides among veterans, but previous studies have suggested former service members are more at risk than those still in uniform.