November 2, 2021
This week’s update includes information about a short survey inviting people to tell us how they would like to share their experience of the mass casualty, and two new Open House dates.
The mass casualty that took place in Nova Scotia in April 2020 took the lives of many innocent people and left others with serious physical and emotional injuries. We know the scale of the loss and trauma is broad and has affected the sense of safety for many people in communities in Canada and beyond.
As the independent public inquiry created to examine the mass casualty, it is important for our work to capture the ongoing effects of the mass casualty to help inform and shape findings and recommendations to make communities safer. In the months ahead, we will be inviting people from the communities where the mass casualty took place, and across Nova Scotia, Canada, and beyond our borders, to contribute by sharing their experience about how it affected or continues to affect them.
First, we want to understand how people would like to share their experiences to make sure we collect this often difficult information in a way that works best for them. Gathering first-hand accounts of personal experiences is one of the many ways the Commission is gathering information about the mass casualty, including ongoing investigations, document review, research, public proceedings and other community and public engagement activities.
If you would consider sharing your experience, we want to know how you would like to do that. Please fill out this short survey—it should take about four minutes. This survey is anonymous and will be open until November 30, 2021. We expect to invite people to share their experience in early 2022, based on the feedback gathered in this survey.
We are also pleased to be holding two more Open Houses in the coming weeks in East Hants and Dartmouth. These events will provide the same information and be the same format as our previous Open Houses. There will be no formal presentations. Community members are welcome to drop in anytime to speak to Commission team members or review and collect information about the Commission’s work. We look forward to connecting with these communities.
As we shared in our last update, we are continuing to make steady progress including drafting Foundational Documents about what happened and collaborating with Participants to ensure these are as complete and accurate as possible before they are shared publicly in our coming proceedings. A reminder that a calendar of proceedings is now available on the Commission’s website, and will be updated regularly.
As always, we thank you for your interest and involvement. If you know of others who would be interested in receiving these updates, please point them to the sign-up links on our homepage. We also encourage the public to help spread the word in your community about our work and how people can take part and prepare to share their experiences and perspectives. We welcome hearing from you anytime via email to info@MassCasualtyCommission.ca or by calling either 902-407-7532 (local) or 1-833-635-2501 (toll-free). We are also constantly sharing updates about how to take part via our website, Facebook and Twitter.
Sincerely,
The Mass Casualty Commission
Hon. J. Michael MacDonald, Chair
Leanne J. Fitch (Ret. Police Chief, M.O.M.)
Dr. Kim Stanton