The union representing RCMP members says it doesn’t feel the Mass Casualty Commission explored every avenue possible before subpoenaing first-responding RCMP members to testify as part of the inquiry into the Nova Scotia mass shooting.
Brian Sauve, president of the National Police Federation (NPF), says he believes more work could have been done by the Mass Casualty Commission over the past eight months and time is not on their side.
“The Commission is coming up on some deadlines and they want to get some detailed interim report by May or June of this year,” said Sauve, “but do they have resources at their disposal to do other investigational steps before going to the subpoena approach?
“I think they do. However, it remains to be seen how that will be applied.”
The Mass Casualty Commission has adopted a trauma-informed mandate as part of its probe into the April 2020 mass shooting at left 22 people dead in rural areas of Nova Scotia, including one RCMP member.
Lawyers representing the NPF have said RCMP officers risk being re-traumatized on the witness stand, but Sauve feels their position has been taken out of context..
“It’s not that we don’t want our members to give evidence,” Brian Sauve, president of the National Police Federation, told Global News from Montreal.
“But the commission itself has established that they will follow a trauma-informed approach. We’re reminding the commission they should be exhausting any and all other avenues before making the decision to issue subpoenas.”
On Wednesday, the Mass Casualty Commission announced it will subpoena the first three officers to arrive in Portapique after the shooting, as well as five supervising officers and four senior officers. The first three officers will be a part of witness panel, which is expected to begin on March 28.
Legal experts say sworn testimony is possible while still remaining trauma-informed.
“I’ve seen this in the Desmond inquiry where we’ve seen witnesses testifying from another room. By closed-circuit television, you can have a support person with you,” said lawyer Adam Rodgers. “There are lots of ways to have someone more comfortable testifying.”
“In some ways it’s a false dichotomy,” said Wayne MacKay, Dalhousie law professor emeritus. “I don’t think it’s fair to say it’s either trauma-informed or not called witnesses and the commission itself has now said that.”
Christopher Schneider, a sociology professor at Brandon University in Manitoba, says the main priority of the commission is get to the truth of what happened and how it happened in order to prevent future tragedies, and that should remain paramount.
“We never want anyone to relive trauma. I think all Canadians agree with that,” Schneider said. “But we, the public, hold police to a higher standard and they hold themselves to a higher standard.
“That’s why they’re sworn members. And as sworn members, we expect them to be testifying.”
Mass Casualty Commission counsel says they will continue to identify witnesses as more foundational documents are released.
“That will be proactive, but we will continue to hear from participants, if they have additional witnesses that they want to hear from to fill gaps in the documents,” said Commission Counsel Emily Hill.
Mass Casualty Commission proceedings are scheduled to resume on March 28.