Education top of mind as St. John's lawyer prepares for N.S. shooting inquiry

Advocacy groups are pushing for school-aged children as young as five to learn about safe and healthy relationships as the Mass Casualty Commission in Nova Scotia is set to begin next week.

St. John's lawyer Erin Breen is representing a coalition of women's groups — the Women's Legal Education and Action Fund in Toronto, as well as Halifax non-profits Avalon Sexual Assault Centre and Wellness Within — as the commission prepares to examine the link between intimate partner violence and the Nova Scotia mass shooting.

Breen said the ideas from the group won't come as a surprise — they're the same recommendations that have been echoed for years by advocates.

"It's not anything novel, but hopefully, if you knock on the door enough times something will give," Breen said. "People know now what we need to do."

One of the key items of importance is the need for compulsory education beginning in kindergarten, on issues involving gender-based violence, she said.

"I think you can start to teach children about basic human rights and the fact that there are power imbalances in our society, which have been reinforced by our institutions and in our laws, that we really have to reverse, and counter a lot of the subliminal messages that exist in our society," Breen said.

The Mass Casualty Commission will inquire and make findings on the causes, context and circumstances that led to the deaths of 22 people in April 2020. In addition to reviewing the responses of RCMP and supporting agencies, the commission will also examine related issues such as the role of gender-based and intimate partner violence.

According to search warrant documents, the man responsible for the killing spree in rural Nova Scotia attacked his common-law partner when she was in bed and fired several shots in her direction before locking her in his replica RCMP cruiser. She managed to escape into the woods, where she reportedly hid until morning.

In the woman's statement to police, she said her spouse was abusive toward her in the past but she never reported him. Other sections of police documents reference people recounting the gunman's violence toward his longtime partner.

CBC News contacted the education departments in all four Atlantic Canadian provinces to see where each stands on early education of healthy family relationships.

All programs and the ages at which they begin vary.

Education on safe and healthy relationships begin in primary school and continues each year after in Nova Scotia, said a spokesperson from the N.S. Department of Education and Childhood Development.

Gender-based violence education is introduced in Grade 4, and in Grade 8 students learn about domestic violence.

The province also notes several programs focused on healthy families, including the development of a provincial plan called Standing Together which aims to prevent and respond to domestic violence. Included in that plan is a program for male-identified students in Grades 5 to 10 that teaches "healthy masculinity and address the complexities of domestic violence."