Final commissioner named
HALIFAX – An additional commissioner has been selected to serve on the threeperson panel established to hold a comprehensive joint public inquiry into the April mass shooting that took 22 lives in Nova Scotia.
The multiple killings happened during a 13-hour period, starting in Portapique, Colchester County, on April 18, and ending the next day before noon at the Irving Big Stop in Enfield, where the killer was shot by the RCMP.
The governments of Canada and Nova Scotia acquiesced to public pressure in July and announced their intention to establish a public inquiry instead of the independent panel review that had been previously announced.
Kim Stanton was named as the third commissioner Thursday, joining J. Michael MacDonald, former chief justice of Nova Scotia, and Leanne Fitch, the former police chief in Fredericton, N.B., who has worked in municipal policing for 34 years.
“My thoughts continue to be with the families and survivors who have suffered incomprehensible loss and trauma,” Mark Furey, Nova Scotia’s justice minister, said in a release Thursday.
The inquiry is intended to determine what happened and to make recommendations to help prevent similar tragic events in the future.
“(Families) and all Nova Scotians deserve answers,” Furey said. “This public inquiry will play a critical role in the ongoing response to establish the facts and circumstances of this tragedy.”
Raised in southern Alberta, Stanton practises Aboriginal and constitutional law at Goldblatt Partners LLP in Toronto. She has a law degree from the University of British Columbia and master’s and doctoral degrees in law from the University of Toronto.
MacDonald, Fitch and former federal Liberal cabinet minister Anne McLellan were initially named to lead the panel review and it was hoped that they would take on similar roles with the inquiry but McLellan stepped away shortly after the inquiry was announced, saying she could not commit the time required.
“All Canadians can have confidence this inquiry will be undertaken in a thorough, independent and compassionate manner, and that the three commissioners will find the answers we are all seeking,” Bill Blair, federal minister of public safety and emergency preparedness, said in the release.
Working at arm’s-length from both levels of government, the commissioners must submit two reports to the governments on their findings, lessons learned and recommendations. An interim report will be due by May 1 and a final report by Nov 1, 2022.