The inquiry into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting has released its final report, condemning the RCMP for its failures in responding to the tragedy while calling for an overhaul in how the force operates.
“More than two years after the event, RCMP leadership had done very little to systematically evaluate its critical incident response to the deadliest mass shooting in Canada’s history,” said the Mass Casualty Commission’s report released on March 30.
“In our process, it was apparent that the organizational structure of the RCMP both contributes to these failings and makes it challenging to hold the organization accountable for its work.”
The commission’s 3,000-page report, which contains 130 recommendations, said the RCMP was unprepared to handle the events of April 18–19, 2020, when Gabriel Wortman killed 22 people and injured three others across Nova Scotia before being shot and killed by police.
The report criticized the RCMP for failing to warn the public that the gunman had left the town of Portapique or that he was disguised as a police officer and driving a replica police vehicle. The commissioners said this deprived community members of the “opportunity to evaluate risks to their safety and to take measures to better protect themselves.”
Failure to warn the public resulted from an “institutional culture that undervalues community relationships and public communications,” the report said. Information taken in through 911 calls was not widely shared, it said.
Recommendations
Several recommendations focused on how the RCMP responded to the event, claiming it should provide the best possible information to the public as soon as possible, establish clear protocols for unified command posts, and implement emergency plans.The report said the RCMP and Nova Scotia Emergency Management Office should review its call-taker recruitment and training to ensure 911 call-takers are trained to capture all information shared by a community member as fully and accurately as possible.
Another recommendation related to the RCMP’s management culture, which the report said negatively affects operations and impedes “institutional learning and accountability.” The Commissioners recommended adopting a policy of “admitting its mistakes, accepting responsibility for them, and ensuring that accountability mechanisms are in place for addressing its errors.”
As part of its exploration of why “concerning behaviour” and “red flags” were missed, the document also notes that the “perpetrator’s privilege as a wealthy white man contributed to his impunity from adverse official or social consequences for his violence.”
The report also recommends that Canada’s Criminal Code be changed to prohibit all semi-automatic handguns, semi-automatic rifles, and shotguns that discharge centre-fire ammunition or can accept detachable magazines with capacities of more than five rounds.
The issue of gun control legislation throughout the inquiry gathered a lot of attention after it came to light that then-RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki had scolded her staff for not publicly releasing the details of the guns used in the killing. Notes from RCMP staff said that Lucki had said at an April 28, 2020, meeting that she had made a “promise” to the public safety minister that the information would be released, and that it was “tied to pending gun control legislation.” Opposition parties have charged that this amounts to the politicization of the issue, while Lucki and the Liberal government have denied the allegation.
The guns that were used in the mass killing were obtained illegally and smuggled in from the United States.
RCMP Will Follow Advice: Commissioner
The RCMP will “take the time to read and process the report,” said Mike Duheme, interim commissioner of the RCMP, at a press conference in Truro, Nova Scotia, on March 30. “My senior management team and I will move forward with conviction and commitment to act on the Commission’s recommendations.”“After being briefed and visiting the sites of this horrific crime this week—and talking to employees who responded in the first 13 hours—I know our RCMP employees worked to the best of their abilities and did everything they could with the training and equipment they were provided,” Duheme said. “But we must learn, and we are committed to doing just that.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, who spoke at the same press conference, said it was important for him to be in the province to “show that all Canadians continue to stand with the family members, the community, the people of Nova Scotia and elsewhere who have been so deeply affected over the last three years.”
Trudeau thanked the commissioners for their work and said the federal government and RCMP would take time to “digest” their conclusions and recommendations.
“There’s no question there will need to be changes made, and we will take time to get those right,” Trudeau said.
Conservatives criticized the inquiry for not putting enough focus on the victims’ families, and allowing them only “minimal involvement in the process.”
“Three years after the tragedy, we all still find ourselves with a heavy feeling of emptiness and incomprehension, especially the families of the victims who should have been immediately supported, in every way possible,” Conservative MP Stephen Ellis said in a statement on March 30.
NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh commended the report for its “thorough and comprehensive investigation.”
“The report confirms what many Nova Scotians already suspected: that the RCMP failed to prevent or contain the gunman’s rampage, and that their response was inadequate and disorganized,” he said in a statement on March 30.
