Mass Casualty Commission selects participants

The Mass Casualty Commission will hear from nearly 30 people and several advocacy groups and organizations to contribute to its probe of the murders of 22 Nova Scotians and an unborn child last April.

The three-commissioner panel announced its decision during a virtual broadcast Thursday morning.

After opening for applications in late March, the commission received more than 60 applications from people and groups to contribute to the public inquiry.

Of those applications, the commission has approved all of the following families of the victims who applied to participate through legal counsel:

• Bagley Family

• Beaton Family

• Blair Family

• Bond Family

• Campbell Family

• Ellison Family

• Goulet Family

• Gulenchyn/madsen Family

• Jenkins Family

• Mccully Family

• Mcleod Family

• O'brien Family

• Oliver/tuck Family

• Thomas/zahl Family

• Webber Family

Three people, who along with the families and nine others have been deemed as those most affected by the tragedy, have also been accepted, but do not currently have counsel:

• Beverly Beaton

• Tara Long

• Andrew Macdonald Nine people, also in the most affected category, have been accepted and will participate through legal counsel:

• Lisa Banfield

• Mallory Colpitts

• Darrell Currie

• Adam Fisher

• Carole Fisher

• Leon Joudrey

• Greg Muise

• Bernie Murphy

• Deb Thibeault

Eleven people, including someone from the west Colchester County region, a registered counselling therapist and a retired member of the Canadian Army, also applied, but the commission is looking for more information "to better assess their potential contribution."

Each person has been invited to provide the commission with a written submission "with more details about how they propose to participate" by May 27.

The commission has approved several groups to participate in the public inquiry as well.

• The Canadian Resource Centre for Victims of Crime, Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police — National Working Group Supporting Victims of Terrorism and Mass Violence and Office of the Federal Ombudsman for Victims of Crime will form a coalition to "to assist the commission in understanding the relationships among police, government and victims of mass casualties."

• The Nova Scotia Nurses' Union, Nova Scotia Government and General Employees Union and Along the Shore Health Board "can contribute significantly with recommendations on how to keep our communities safer and healthier." The three organizations will prepare reports, attend community sessions and participate in roundtable discussions.

• The Canadian Coalition for Gun Control and Canadian Coalition for Firearms Rights were both approved to participate, as "the use of firearms represents an important aspect of our mandate," the commission said in its decision.

• BC Civil Liberties Association and the East Coast Prison Justice Society will participate as a coalition, while Nova Scotia Legal Aid "has the potential to make a similar contribution but from a unique perspective," therefore will participate in a separate opportunity to the inquiry.

• The Women's Legal Education and Action Fund, Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, and Wellness Within will form a coalition, while Women's Shelters Canada, Transition House Association of Nova Scotia and Be the Peace Institute will form a separate coalition. Feminists Fighting Femicide (FFF) and Persons Against Non-state Torture will also work together. Meanwhile, the Elizabeth Fry Society of Mainland Nova Scotia will provide written submissions on intimate partner violence/gender-based violence.

• The Atlantic Police Association affiliated, Canadian Police Association, National Police Federation, Nova Scotia Chiefs of Police Association, RCMP Veterans Association of Nova Scotia and Truro Police Service have also been approved as "policing in rural Nova Scotia is fundamental to our mandate," the commission said.

The commissioners, Kim Stanton, an Aboriginal and constitutional law expert, J. Michael Macdonald, former chief justice of Nova Scotia, and Leanne Fitch, Fredericton's former police chief, also made recommendations on those who applied for funding.

Before the announcement, the commission noted "it is not necessary to have applied to be a participant in order to be involved in our work."

"For example, members the public may attend community engagement events and public proceedings," Macdonald said.

NEXT STEPS

Stanton said the pandemic has continued to make it difficult to plan the commission's next steps.

"Nonetheless, like everyone, we will remain agile and move forward with our mandate as best we can with the use of technology, personal protective equipment and social distancing," Stanton said.

Work is already underway by the commission's investigation team, as the team works on gathering information on what happened on April 18 and 19, 2020, when a gunman dressed as an RCMP officer rampaged through several Nova Scotia communities.

The tragic event, which started in Portapique and ended in Enfield more than 13 hours later, is the deadliest mass shooting in Canadian history.

Since then, the families of the mass shooting victims have been seeking answers, but also want to make sure something similar never happens again.

For months, the victims' families called on the government, both provincial and federal, to launch a public inquiry but were met with silence.

In July, federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and provincial Justice Minister Mark Furey announced an independent review into the tragedy, rather than a full public inquiry.

But that move didn't stop the families from demanding nothing short of a public inquiry, which was eventually called to take place instead of an independent review.

"We recognize that those most affected and the public generally are looking for and deserve answers," Stanton said. "To this end, our investigative and legal teams will continue to review thousands of documents, interview witnesses with the collaboration of our community liaison and mental health teams and otherwise pursue this important part of the commission mandate."

The public inquiry is to be finished by November 2022.