N.S. shootings spark mental health plan
The federal and Nova Scotia governments rolled out an $18-million plan Friday aimed at helping people still suffering from mental health, grief and bereavement challenges three years after the worst mass shooting in Canadian history.
The joint announcement was in response to a recommendation from a public inquiry that released its final report last month into the tragedy in northern and central Nova Scotia, where 22 people were shot dead on April 18-19, 2020, by a man disguised as a Mountie.
“This is just the beginning,” said Brian Comer, Nova Scotia’s minister responsible for addictions and mental health, who was joined via video link by Carolyn Bennett, the federal minister of mental health and addictions. “We know we need to move quickly on this.”
But a leading critic of the provincial government’s efforts to help residents in the aftermath of the shootings said the two-year plan is flawed. Among other things, the province plans to hire clinical and front-line staff to deliver community-based care, but that goal will prove difficult to reach, said Alec Stratford, executive director of the Nova Scotia College of Social Workers.
“The ability to get more staff in there is already challenged by all of the recruitment issues that we face,” Stratford said in an interview Friday.
As well, he took aim at the province’s plan to use existing staff to establish a mobile clinical team that will be expected to offer a range of health and wellness services in the most affected communities in Cumberland, Colchester and Hants counties.
“There have been staff members who were trying to do this work for the last three years and they are beyond burnt out at this point in time,” Stratford said. “It’s going to deepen that level of burnout and stress.”
The inquiry, known as the Mass Casualty Commission, issued 130 recommendations to prevent a similar tragedy and improve community safety and well-being across Canada. Its call for more mental-health supports came with the commission’s first deadline: May 1.
On that date, one outreach worker will begin travelling to affected communities to provide mental wellness supports, said Comer. And as of May 6, the mobile team will start offering their services, but only on Saturdays.
The province is also in the process of hiring a “clinical grief lead” who will be responsible for providing expertise in grief and bereavement services. And there are plans to bring in grief and bereavement specialists, mental-health clinicians and nurse practitioners, but Comer could not say how many people would be hired.
The minister said a long-term strategy would be developed once consultations with residents have been completed, but he did not commit to spending more money on the plan announced Friday — even though it calls for an expansion across the province and impact assessments later this year and in 2025 and 2028.
“I won’t presuppose that,” he said. The commission of inquiry’s final report included withering criticism of Nova Scotia’s failed attempts at providing adequate mental-health, grief and bereavement support during the past three years.