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Families of the 22 people killed in the April 2020 mass shooting in rural Nova Scotia say it’s time the public hearings begin.
Their lawyers have released a statement saying they’re concerned because the Mass Casualty Commission has further delayed the public proceedings.
They were set to begin in October, but the commission said they needed more time to prepare and brief participants on the information. The commission has collected more than 40,000 pages of records in addition to testimony from witnesses.
It was announced last week the public hearings would be pushed again until February 22nd.
“Our clients are becoming increasingly concerned by these delays and the limited information being shared about what the public proceedings will entail, and what role
those “most affected” will be afforded in those public proceedings,” says lawyer Sandra McCulloch Patterson Law in a statement on behalf of their clients.
The commission has been tasked with trying to determine what happened during the 13-hour rampage that began in Portapique on April 18th, 2020.
A lone gunman disguised as a police officer killed 13 people and set fire to several homes. He continued to evade police the next day, taking the lives of nine more people before he was killed at a gas station in Enfield.
The law firm says the families also want more transparency around how these delays will impact the inquiry along with what the public proceedings will entail and their format.
The commission is required to submit an interim report on its investigation in May 2022 and its final report by November 2022.
“In addition to a start date which is not subject to further postponement, our clients continue to wait for meaningful assurances that a fulsome public inquiry is what they will receive,” the statement says.
Sixty-one participants are involved in the inquiry, including police, firearms organizations, and advocacy groups that deal with intimate partner violence.
The public inquiry was announced in July 2020 after protests by the victims’ family members and the public.
