An Update from the Commissioners - October 27, 2022

Although public proceedings concluded on September 23, we reconvened briefly today to mark additional documents as exhibits.

The Commission requires any outstanding documents that should be part of the public record and that may inform our final report to be marked as exhibits. Participants, counsel, and Commission teams worked to bring forward groupings of final documents including supporting material for public proceedings that were not previously marked; transcripts of recent interviews; correspondence between the Commission and Participants for the public record; and documents produced to the Commission after the completion of public proceedings.

We have been under time constraints throughout this inquiry and with this complex mandate, but we are committed to completing the final report within our timeframe, ensuring it is both rigorous and comprehensive.

These documents exhibited today were shared with Participants in advance, and we are providing time for any Participants who want to make submissions based on any of the additional documents. We know this is not optimal, but we continue to believe Participant input is important while we also strive to work within our timeframe.

We are appreciative of the effort that Participants and counsel have put into reviewing material. This appreciation also extends to the public and the media. Our hope is that you will review the documents of interest to you in the coming weeks and months.

To watch the webcast of today’s brief virtual proceeding, visit our website.

Overview of Additional Documents

The additional documents marked as exhibits during the brief virtual proceeding this week include:

• More than 570 documents from the Attorney General of Canada consisting of RCMP correspondence, reports and additional documents
• More than 180 additional documents received from the Attorney General of Canada subsequent to the last day of proceedings on September 23, 2022, including further RCMP officer notes, correspondence, reports, logs, and policies
• More than 200 documents related to RCMP Human Resources Management Information System (HRMIS) records
• 139 additional Memoranda of Understanding and Standard Operating Procedures
• 70 documents referenced by Participant counsel in their oral and written submissions, and over 25 additional documents requested to be marked as exhibits by Participant counsel
• 50 documents from the RCMP relating to the Issues Management Team, After Event Debriefing, Strategic Communications, a 2011 CISNS Bulletin, record retention, complaints made by Brenda Forbes, the alert ready system and tactical armored vehicles
• 42 letters exchanged between Department of Justice (DOJ) Canada and the Commission
• 30 documents from a scan of relevant international reports, including summaries created by the Commission’s Research and Policy team
• 21 documents related to the Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT)
• 19 documents containing additional relevant portions of the notebooks of RCMP Chief Supt. Chris Leather and retired Chief Supt. Janice Gray
• 18 transcripts of Commission interviews
• 13 documents related to the prosecution of Lisa Banfield
• 7 documents relating to a recording of a meeting between members of RCMP H Division and head office on April 28, 2020
• 7 documents related to the National Office of Investigative Standards and Practices (NOISP)
• 6 documents related to the Provincial Police Service Agreement (PPSA)
• 5 investigations supplementary reports from the Commission along with 87 source documents
• 2 further Foundational Document Errata correcting typographical errors
• A policy book of additional relevant RCMP policies
• Over 530 additional documents that do not fall neatly within one category and have been identified as relevant to the work of the Commission.

You can find all of these documents at MassCasualtyCommission.ca/Documents/Foundational-Documents/#SourceMaterials. As a reminder, there is a search function on the website that allows you to find documents by looking for keywords.

This brings the total number of exhibits in the Mass Casualty Commission proceedings to 7634.

Continuing Engagement

As we continue to make progress in preparing the final report, we encourage Participants and other interested members of the public to stay engaged. To assist you, all transcripts from public proceedings are available on the Commission’s website, where you will also find proceedings webcasts, the Foundational Documents and source materials, investigations supplementary reports, commissioned reports and much more information about both what happened on April 18 and 19, 2020, and how and why it happened.

Addenda and errata to Foundational Documents arising from our work have been added to the website, along with related source materials. Addenda include additional material, and errata include the correction of any errors.

Thank You to Families and Community Stakeholders

We reiterate our thanks to the many people who met with us during the final few weeks of public proceedings, including those who took part in community stakeholder sessions, and especially to the family members who joined us in small group sessions to speak again about their experiences of the mass casualty and suggested recommendations. These conversations were challenging, took a lot of courage, and will make a strong contribution to our ongoing work. Thank you all.

As we have said, we are focused on preparing the final report, and we remain committed to making sure recommendations are clear and implementable. Public safety is a shared responsibility and opportunity. It will take many people in many settings and roles to help make our communities safer.

As always, pathways to mental health, wellness and other supports are available if you or a loved one need them.

Sincerely,

The Mass Casualty Commission

Hon. J. Michael MacDonald, Chair

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

Dr. Kim Stanton