Here's what to watch for during the N.S. mass shooting hearings
Mass Casualty Commission proceedings will run 3 to 4 days most weeks until end of May
The long-awaited public phase of the inquiry into the mass shootings of April 2020 that left 22 dead in Nova Scotia is beginning in Halifax on Tuesday morning, but the proceedings will be a far cry from a trial.
The goal of the joint federal and provincial inquiry is to make communities safer. Its mandate extends beyond looking at the 13 hours that a gunman disguised as a Mountie travelled freely through rural parts of the province, killing neighbours in Portapique and acquaintances and strangers in Wentworth, Debert and Shubenacadie.
Only a handful of people survived encounters with 51-year-old denturist Gabriel Wortman who torched homes, used guns he obtained illegally, and who police later described as paranoid and fixated on the end of the world.
The Mass Casualty Commission is responsible for examining how policing and government agencies responded to the tragedy, the role intimate partner violence played, the shooter's access to firearms and any other past dealings he had with police.
Charlene Bagley's father, Tom Bagley was a retired firefighter and navy veteran. He was killed when he stopped by his neighbours' home in Wentworth to check on them. The gunman was a stranger.
"The fact that my father was taken really does challenge the grieving process…. I can't fully heal until I know," she said. "I want answers."
When Tom Bagley left home for his usual morning walk on April 19, 2020, police had not yet publicly identified their suspect. It would be another hour before they shared on Twitter that he was in a mock cruiser.
"I want to know why an [emergency] alert wasn't called. Mainly because I know for certain that would have saved his life," said Charlene Bagley, who lives in the Halifax area.
Bagley is among a number of people directly impacted who say they've lost faith in the inquiry process they demanded and doubt it will actually bring answers to questions that have haunted them since April 2020.
She wrote a letter to the commission last week in which she said she wanted to hear testimony under oath from the officers who fired at the Onslow fire hall as well as the gunman's partner, Lisa Banfield.
"She knew him more than anybody. She lived with him," Bagley said in an interview, adding she's also skeptical of the accounts presented by the RCMP.
Banfield's lawyer said he was unable to comment on his client's involvement in the commission until after her trial that starts in late March. Banfield has pleaded not guilty to giving the gunman the ammunition he used in the shootings, although police say she didn't know his plans.
Hearings not all witnesses
This week's proceedings at the Halifax Convention Centre will be livestreamed and won't involve the introduction of any new evidence until next Monday. On Tuesday, the commissioners are scheduled to give opening remarks and there will be a panel on mental health and wellness.
The inquiry has cost $13 million so far and until this point, its work has happened behind the scenes. A team of investigators has been combing through tens of thousands of pages of documents — including notes and files subpoenaed from the RCMP — as well as conducting their own interviews with front-line officers and other first responders.
But it's uncertain how many of them will be called upon to testify.
Emily Hill, senior counsel for the Mass Casualty Commission, said some days the hearings won't have any witnesses. Instead, lawyers for the commission will be presenting summaries of their investigation, compiled in "foundational documents" that will be posted publicly as they're introduced.
Next week the plan is to start with documents outlining what happened in Portapique.
"So part of the question around how witnesses will deliver evidence will depend on what questions do we need answers to. What are we trying to understand from this witness?" she said.
"Public inquiries are not aimed at finding fault. They're not aimed at finding civil or criminal responsibility. They're aimed at understanding what happened and learning from that and thinking about what can we do differently in the future."
Questions about cross examination
Along the way, the commission will be consulting with the dozens of groups and individuals participating in the inquiry — there are 61 in total — about who to call as witnesses. It will be up to the commissioners to decide on a case-by-case basis whether counsel for the participants will be able to cross-examine those witnesses, Hill said.
Patterson Law, a Nova Scotia law firm that represents 23 participants, including more than half the families, has been critical of that format. The firm has said it needs more clarity on who will be called and what their own role will be in order to prepare and represent the families.
Hill said "everything is not mapped out" for the hearings that will run three or four days most weeks until the end of May. But she said the public is getting a full, independent inquiry.
"We have confidence in the information that we've collected, how this process has evolved to the place where we can move now into public proceedings and begin to have these conversations with the public and continue to learn from them," she said.
Investigation not over
Barbara McLean, leader of the commission's investigative team, said even as the hearings present its findings, it will still continue the process of gathering information and interviewing people if needed.
"The public proceedings are just the next step in our inquiry. And that's really where a public inquiry is different than a civil or a court process where it goes to court and it's done," she said.
"The sooner we know things, the sooner people do come forward, the better for us that we can see where it fits and that it can influence our work. But there's still a lot of work left to do and still a lot of people to speak to."
The commission's interim report is due in May and the final report is due in November. In between, there will be a third phase of hearings focused on findings and recommendations, likely starting at the end of the summer. Hill said they are "on track" to meet those deadlines.
Meanwhile, the RCMP said in a news release that it has been co-operating with the commission and hopes it provides a "full accounting of what happened."
Keys to successful inquiry
Ed Ratushny, an emeritus professor of law at the University of Ottawa who has worked with inquiries as counsel and author of The Conduct of Public Inquiries: Law, Policy, and Practice, said in his experience, inquiries have the best outcomes when the people under scrutiny — whether they be police, judges or public servants — "recognize that mistakes have been made."
"They feel a responsibility for them and they want to make changes to ensure that it doesn't happen again," he told CBC in an interview last month.
"They all say, 'Yeah, we've got to do something about this and … we're not afraid to say that we contributed to that, to the problem. And because we're sorry that it happened and we really want to prevent it from happening again.'"
That type of acknowledgement is what Nick Beaton wants to hear. His pregnant wife, Kristen, was killed the morning of April 19.
"Putting my son to bed every night alone and asking where mommy is, you know, this is supposed to put forth steps to prevent this from happening again and show the RCMP this is where your faults were, this is where it could've went different, this is where the government could have went different ... even us, as citizens, if this happens again this is what you should or shouldn't do," he said.
WATCH | The Fifth Estate chronicles 13 hours of mayhem that constitute one of Canada's deadliest events:
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With files from Angela MacIvor and Kayla Hounsell
