Change needed to end 'epidemic' of gender-based violence, says N.S. mass shooting report

The final report from the inquiry examining the 2020 mass shootings in Nova Scotia calls for sweeping change to end gender-based violence.

It describes it as an epidemic that, like the COVID-19 pandemic, warrants a "meaningful, whole of society response."

"We agree that recognizing gender-based, intimate partner, and family violence as an epidemic is a valuable first step …needed to prevent and eradicate these forms of violence," write the members of the Mass Casualty Commission.

"The word 'epidemic' signifies the scope of the problem as prevailing and sweeping, and also speaks to its toxic and unhealthy character."

The commission made 17 recommendations to address gender-based violence, including "epidemic-level funding" for agencies and organizations devoted to intervention. Amid the calls for systemic change by governments, law enforcement and regulators is an appeal to men to take up "individual and concerted action" to contribute to ending the epidemic.

"Our aim is not to demonize all men as perpetrators of violence," reads the report.

"At the same time, we believe men can take responsibility for ending violence in our communities by disrupting traditional norms and harmful expressions of masculinity."

The commissioners note the April 2020 shootings happened after a number of systemic failures around enforcement and intervention, primarily by police, in the years before the mass shootings. The gunman had a history of violent behaviour against his patients, neighbours and his common-law spouse, Lisa Banfield. 

The failure of police to respond to multiple reports of the gunman's violence is an example of the ways "in which we fail to adequately address gender-based violence," write the commissioners.

"For far too long, we have misperceived mass violence as our greatest threat without considering its relationship to other more pervasive forms of violence," states the report. "We do so at the expense of public safety and community well-being."

The authors write that the gunman's pattern and escalation of violence could have been addressed before the killings, noting "many red flags" about his violent and illegal behaviour were known by a broad range of people.

"All too often, gender-based, intimate partner and family violence are precursors to the forms of violence that are more readily seen as being of broader 'public' concern," states the report.

"We ignore these forms of violence at our collective peril."

Relatives told the commission the gunman was abused by his father as a child, and Banfield described the abuse she suffered during their 19-year relationship in detail during several interviews with police and the commission.