April 29, 2022
Next week, we will hear from additional witnesses, Commission counsel will present another Foundational Document and additional Research and Commissioned Reports will be shared.
Schedule for the week of May 2
The calendar continues to be updated on Fridays with details for the following week. The details for the week of May 2 are also found below.
- Presentation of Foundational Document: Firearms
- Presentation of Expert Reports
- History of Gun Control in Canada, by Blake Brown, St. Mary's University
- Mass Shootings and Masculinity by Tara Leigh Tober and Tristan Bridges, UC Santa Barbara
- Technical Witness: Benjamin Sampson, Firearms Scientist, Physical Sciences Section at Centre of Forensic Sciences
- Witness: Al McCambridge to provide his knowledge regarding RCMP uniform procedures in relation to the procurement, life cycle and destruction or disposition of uniforms
- Participant Submissions on Access to Firearms: Enforcement, Smuggling and Regulatory Approaches
- Witness Panel: Cst Terry Brown and Cst. Dave Melanson to provide important context and to fill in any material gaps relating to the mass casualty, specifically the discharge of their carbine rifles toward the parked RCMP Cruiser of Cst. Gagnon and the nearby EMO coordinator Mr. David Westlake at the Onslow Fire Brigade Hall on April 19, 2020.
- Witness: Cst. Ian Fahie to provide important context and to fill in any material gaps relating to the mass casualty, specifically:
- Attending at Plains Road on the morning of April 19th, 2020;
- Initial observations of the perpetrator’s replica police vehicle on the morning of April 19, 2020, including the presence of the push bar.
- Witness: Cpl. Duane Ivany to provide important context and to fill in any material gaps relating to the mass casualty, specifically:
- Attending to Heather O’Brien on Plains Road on the morning of April 19th, 2020;
- Encounter with Lisa Banfield on the morning of April 19, 2020.
Roundtables
On Wednesday, April 27, members of the Commission team facilitated the first of several roundtable discussions to come. This was an opportunity for us to hear directly from people with knowledge and experience on the subjects of police paraphernalia and police impersonation. Creating the space and time for this discussion allowed us to better understand the issues related to how and why various aspects of the mass casualty could have happened (for example, how someone can access or create police paraphernalia). The learnings from the roundtable, like perspectives on collecting police paraphernalia or the significance it has during certain events, will inform the recommendations included in our final report to help prevent and respond to similar incidents in the future.
Members of the roundtable reflected a diverse range of perspectives including a former police chief, a social justice lawyer, a professor of criminology, a collector of police paraphernalia, and a representative from RCMP Veterans Nova Scotia who is also a Participant.
To learn more about the roundtable topics and the members, visit the website’s new roundtables webpage. For documents related to roundtables, please visit the Research and Commissioned Reports webpage.
Commissioned Reports
This week the Commission released the first seven Commissioned Reports. These reports are prepared by independent writers and focus on public policy, academic research and lessons learned from previous mass casualties. Commissioned Reports are necessary to explore the causes, contexts and circumstances that may have contributed to the mass casualty. This work will help us better understand the related issues outlined in the mandate including access to firearms, gender-based and intimate partner violence and police policies.
The reports shared this week included:
- Police Culture: Origins, Features, and Reform, by Bethan Loftus, Bangor University
- Crime Prevention and Community Safety in Rural Communities, by Karen Foster, Dalhousie University
- Mass Shootings and Masculinity, by Tara Leigh Tober and Tristan Bridges, UC Santa Barbara
- Understanding the Links between Gender-Based Violence and Mass Casualty Attacks: Private Violence and Misogyny as Public Risk, by Jude McCulloch and JaneMaree Maher, Monash University
- The History of Gun Control in Canada, by Blake Brown, St. Mary's University
- Survivors and the Aftermath of the Terrorist Attack on Utøya Island, Norway, by Grete Dyb, Kristin Alve Glad, Ingebjørg Lingaas, Synne ØienStensland, Norwegian Center for Violence and Traumatic Stress Studies
- Communications Interoperability and the Alert Ready System, by Chris Davis, Cheryl McNeil and Peter Gamble, Lansdowne Technologies
More than 20 reports will be shared over the course of our work. A full list of reports is available on the website.
Interim Report
The interim report is an important checkpoint that shares details on the work we have been doing thus far on behalf of Canadians to meet the requirements of the mandate. The Commission has submitted the interim report to the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia in advance of the due date this Sunday, May 1, 2022, as outlined in the Orders in Council. We plan to share the report on the Commission website on Monday, May 2.
Our work is still underway, which means this report does not include recommendations or findings. Over the spring and summer, proceedings will continue to provide clarity about what happened, and how and why it happened. At the end of the mandate, the Commission will submit a final report to the governments of Canada and Nova Scotia containing findings, and recommendations to help prevent and respond to similar events in the future.
Commission Source Material
The source materials related to the Police Paraphernalia and Replica RCMP Cruiser Foundational Documents that were tabled Monday, April 25 are now available on the website. Source materials related to Foundational Documents will continue to be added to the website two business days after they have been marked as evidence during proceedings. In some rare instances, there may be further delay for individual documents that are being reviewed or summarized.
Source materials that do not relate to a specific Foundational Document can now be found on the Foundational Document page when filtering source material by “Additional Exhibits”.
In rare instances, a source material may need to be removed from the website after it has been posted. This has occurred very infrequently as a result of claims of privilege or private information, such as information that could identify a minor, or medical information. When this happens, the document is removed out of an abundance of caution and re-posted once appropriately reviewed and updated if required. For more information, visit our website.
Venue Change for Proceedings
The venues for public proceedings change periodically so please use the registration portal or website calendar to confirm locations on the date you wish to attend. For the week of May 2, public proceedings will be held at the Dartmouth Hilton Hotel. Members of the public can register to attend proceedings in person on the website.
As always, you can watch the webcasts or listen to live audio from the proceedings by calling 1-877-385-4099 (toll free) and entering code 1742076 followed by the # sign. Recordings of the webcasts along with transcripts are available, so that you may engage in this work at a time that works best for you.
Thanks to your continuing engagement, we are making progress in our work, sharing answers with the public about what happened, and exploring how and why it happened. Please remember, supports are available if you or someone you know needs help, both on-site at the proceedings and through the website.
Sincerely,
The Mass Casualty Commission
Hon. J. Michael MacDonald, Chair
Leanne J. Fitch (Ret. Police Chief, M.O.M.)
Dr. Kim Stanton