The federal and Nova Scotia governments have ordered a joint independent review of April’s mass killing tragedy in Nova Scotia.
The federal and Nova Scotia governments explain how a joint independent review of the mass killing in Nova Scotia will work. 0:00
The federal and Nova Scotia governments have appointed an independent three-person panel led by the province’s former top judge to review the mass killing in Nova Scotia in April.
Their report, which is due next year and will be made public, will consider the causes, context and circumstances that led to the incident — including gender-based and intimate-partner violence and the gunman’s access to firearms — as well as the police response and communications.
It will also address the steps taken to inform, support and engage victims, families and other affected persons, according to a news release issued Thursday.
But the announcement appears to fall short of a public inquiry that victims’ families, some legal experts and the provincial Progressive Conservatives and NDP have been calling for.
It is up to the panel to decide whether any hearings will be held in public. All documents and information collected as part of the review will also be kept confidential.
The panel will be chaired by former chief justice of Nova Scotia Michael MacDonald. The other panel members are former deputy prime minister Anne McLellan, who is currently a senior advisor with the law firm Bennett Jones LLP, and Leanne Fitch, a former chief of the Fredericton Police Force.
On April 18 and 19, a lone gunman went on a 13-hour shooting rampage that began in the small community of Portapique and ended at a gas st