Mandate

The mandate for the independent Commission is set out under the authority of the Government of Canada and the Government of Nova Scotia and includes the following:

To inquire into what happened and make findings on:

• The causes, context and circumstances giving rise to the April 2020 mass casualty;
• The responses of police, including the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), municipal police forces, the Canada Border Services Agency, the Criminal Intelligence Service Nova Scotia, the Canadian Firearms Program and the Alert Ready program;
• The steps taken to inform, support and engage those most affected.

To examine related issues including:

• The role of gender-based and intimate partner violence;
• Access to firearms;
• Prior interactions and relationship of the perpetrator with the police and social services;
• Police actions;
• Communications with the public during and after the event;
• Communications between and within law enforcement agencies and other services;
• Police policies, procedures and training.

To produce a report that:

• Sets out lessons learned as well as recommendations that could help prevent and respond to similar incidents in the future

Mandate Overview

This outline represents the mandate of the Mass Casualty Commission.

Orders in Council

The Orders in Council also provide guidance on how the Commissioners should carry out their work and the authority they can exercise in doing so.

The full Orders in Council can be viewed here:

The Commission made a request and received approval from both the provincial and federal governments for an extension to submit the final report by March 31, 2023, instead of November 1, 2022. These details are found within the official OICs linked below.

• Order in Council: Government of Canada | September 8, 2022
• Order in Council: Government of Nova Scotia | September 8, 2022