An Update from the Commissioners – June 17, 2022

Overview of the Commission’s Work

As public proceedings continue, the Commission is making progress, learning and sharing with the public what happened, how and why, and gathering information and insights that will inform recommendations to help make communities throughout Canada safer.

What Happened at Proceedings this Week

This past week, the Commission held four small group sessions. The small group sessions bring together people to discuss a particular aspect of their experience of April 18-19, 2020. The sessions are designed to foster dialogue that will deepen the Commission’s understanding of the context and impacts of the mass casualty and help the Commission put forward meaningful recommendations that are practical to implement. If you missed the proceedings this week, you can watch the small group sessions on the website.

On Monday, we heard from Emergency Health Services (EHS) paramedics and an emergency dispatcher who shared their perspectives as part of the response on April 18 and 19, 2020. The next small group session included members of the Operational Communications Centre (OCC), who described their experiences and some of the challenges of 911 call-taking and dispatch during the mass casualty and the lasting effects of this work. On Tuesday, we held two more small group sessions: one with service providers to hear how they experienced service provision and engagement with families and affected communities after the mass casualty; and another with elected officials from Colchester County, one of three counties where the mass casualty took place. Both sessions focused on access to information in the aftermath of the mass casualty and provision of supports and services to affected communities.

The sessions provided valuable information and perspectives and contributed to our forward-focused mandate to make recommendations that could help prevent and respond to such incidents in the future.

What is Happening Next Week: Public Proceedings Schedule for the Week of June 20

Next week, proceedings will be held at the the Glengarry Best Western in Truro. During proceedings, there will be Foundational Document presentations, a roundtable discussion and we will hear from more witnesses. As with all public proceedings, members of the public can register to attend in-person or can watch the session via our webcast or listen to live audio using the phone line.

Monday, June 20

• Presentation of Foundational Document: Information Seeking from Families and Next of Kin Notifications
• Witness: Cst. Nick Dorrington

Tuesday, June 21

• Presentation of Foundational Documents: Support Services for Survivors, Families and Communities; Public Communications from the RCMP and Government after the Mass Casualty
• Witness: Cst. Wayne “Skipper” Bent

Wednesday, June 22 - No public proceedings

Thursday, June 23

• Roundtable: Emergency communications (within RCMP and among responding agencies) and interoperability among agencies.
  • Mr. Todd Brown, Director of Strategic Initiatives for Public Safety and Field Communications (PSFC), Province of Nova Scotia
  • Mr. Terry Canning, Senior Consultant, Maricomm Consulting Ltd.
  • Ms. Hayley Crichton, Executive Director of Public Safety and Security Division, Nova Scotia Department of Justice
  • Mr. Chris Davis, President and Security and Emergency Management Lead, The Lansdowne Consulting Group
  • Mr. Darryl Macdonald, OCC Commander of the L Division Operational Communications Centre
  • Mr. William Moore, Public Safety Project Lead, Halifax Regional Municipality
  • Chief Dwayne Pike, Chief of Police, Amherst Police Department
  • Mr. Lance Valcour, Inspector (retired), Ottawa Police Service
• Witness: Dr. Jaclyn Schildkraut to discuss her report, “Supporting Survivors and Communities after Mass Shootings”

Commissioner Decisions

Early next week, we will issue our decision regarding a media application to publish five surveillance videos. The videos depict the encounter between RCMP members and the perpetrator at the Enfield Big Stop on April 19, 2020. All five videos were exhibited earlier in proceedings and were made available to accredited media pursuant to an undertaking not to distribute them. Currently, there are still photographs from the videos shown in the presentation of the Enfield Big Stop Foundational Document.

A decision in response to Participant requests to question witnesses directly is available on the website.

Research and Commissioned Reports

Today, the Commission released three more Commissioned Reports. One report focuses on forensic psychological assessment practices and another on interagency communication, collaboration, and interoperability within police services and between police services and other emergency services. The third report covers the phenomena of intimate partner violence, gender-based violence, family violence and coercive control. Please read the reports on the website:

• Rigorous Forensic Psychological Assessment Practices (Part I and II) by Kristy A. Martire, University of New South Wales, Sydney & Tess M.S. Neal, Arizona State University
• Interagency Communication, Collaboration, and Interoperability within Police Services and between Police Services and Other Emergency Services by Curt Taylor Griffiths, PhD Simon Fraser University
• Understanding Violence in Relationships by Carmen Gill & Mary Aspinall, University of New Brunswick

Commissioned Reports help us to explore how and why the mass casualty happened, considering the causes, contexts and circumstances that may have contributed. More than 20 reports will be shared over the course of the Commission’s work. A list of the reports that are expected to be shared is available on the website.

Stay Involved

• Share recommendations, research or ideas that could inform the final recommendations to help keep communities safer. You do not need to be an expert or policy maker to provide a meaningful submission. We want to hear from you if you have something to share that is related to the mandate and would be helpful for the Commission to consider. It can be anything from an academic article on an issue related to the mandate or a simple suggestion that you think would make your local community safer. We are accepting submissions until September 1, 2022.
• 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.
• Register to attend proceedings in person on the Commission’s website. 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.
• Review Commission documents including Foundational Documents and their source materials, research and Commissioned Reports, roundtable documents, and more.

Please remember that supports are available if you or a loved one need them, both on-site at the proceedings and through the Commission’s website.

Sincerely,

The Mass Casualty Commission

Hon. J. Michael MacDonald, Chair

Leanne J. Fitch (Ret. Police Chief, M.O.M.)

Dr. Kim Stanton