Feds announce full public inquiry into Nova Scotia mass shooting
Posted July 28, 2020 2:10 pm.
Last Updated July 28, 2020 2:11 pm.
HALIFAX (NEWS 1130) — The federal government says there will be a full public inquiry into the Nova Scotia mass shooting that killed 22 people in April.
Federal Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Bill Blair says in a statement Canadians deserve to understand how something that tragic could happen.
“The situation requires our governments work diligently with all those affected by the tragedy to bring forward the critical answers, and ensure this will never happen again.”
We’ve listened to Nova Scotians. Please see my statement. pic.twitter.com/AZ46POcY4n
— Bill Blair (@BillBlair) July 28, 2020
Blair says the government has heard to calls from the families, survivors, advocates, and Nova Scotia MPs for more transparency.
RELATED: Protests in two Nova Scotia locations over mass shooting review decision
The announcement comes after recent rallies and protests demanded a public inquiry. On Monday, organizers held a 22-minute general strike to honour the 22 victims who were killed.
Many families have called for information into what happened during the shootings and what led to the rampage.
Family and friends of victims attend a march demanding an inquiry into the April mass shooting in Nova Scotia that killed 22 people, in Bible Hill, N.S. on Wednesday, July 22, 2020. Women’s rights advocates in Atlantic Canada are calling on people across the country to join a brief general strike on Monday to demand a public inquiry into the deadly mass shootings that took place in Nova Scotia last April. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
Earlier Tuesday, Nova Scotia Justice Minister Mark Furey said he would be in favour of a federal-provincial public inquiry if Ottawa agreed to go along.
Blair says the inquiry will be conducted under the authority of the federal Inquiries Act, with powers to summon witnesses and require them to provide evidence and produce documents.
The three people who had agreed to serve on the review panel announced last week will remain as inquiry commissioners: Michael MacDonald, a former chief justice of Nova Scotia, Anne McLellan, a former federal Liberal cabinet minister, and Leanne Fitch, the former chief of police in Fredericton.
RELATED: Family, colleagues grieve victims of Canada’s deadliest mass shooting
During the gunman’s rampage from April 18 to 19, he killed 22 people, including an on-duty Mountie, before police killed him at a service station in Enfield.
