N.S. shooting inquiry sets example for 'how not to run a commission': expert

The commission examining the Nova Scotia mass shooting lost the public's trust through an "unusual" structure that prioritized closed-door interviews and limited questions for key witnesses in attempts to be trauma-informed, says one expert.

The Mass Casualty Commission leading the joint federal-provincial inquiry into the April 2020 shootings in Nova Scotia wrapped up seven months of public hearings in September.

"Because of its unique attempts to do what it did — without really providing a very good reason for why they did it — I think it could establish a precedent of how not to run a commission," said Ed Ratushny, an emeritus professor of law at the University of Ottawa.

"It's the kind of thing that is a backward step in terms of the things that public inquiries bring to society."

The commission is standing by the format of the inquiry that is expected to cost around $47 million in provincial and federal funds by the time the final report is released in March 2023.

On its website, the commission says "the focus of a trauma-informed approach is to minimize the potential for further harm and re-traumatization, and to enhance safety, control and resilience." The approach means the commission doesn't refer to the gunman by his name, for example.

Emma Cunliffe, the commission's research and policy director, said she wouldn't change how the commission has interpreted its trauma-informed mandate because it helped build the "most accurate and complete" factual record.

"It's allowed individuals to participate in our process who may not otherwise have been able to do so," Cunliffe said.

On April 18, 2020, a gunman killed 13 people in the small community of Portapique, N.S., and burned homes before fleeing in a replica cruiser. He would kill nine more people the next day, including a pregnant woman and an RCMP officer, as he drove south through the province before being killed by police at an Enfield, N.S., gas station.

Ratushny, who has worked with inquiries extensively as a commissioner and participating counsel, has echoed concerns raised by the victims' families and their lawyers.

The hearings began in February after the victims' families fought for a more transparent public inquiry model rather than a review. The commission's mandate included not only looking at what happened during the massacre, but its root causes and what could be done to prevent something like it in the future.

The commission took months to gather documents, set up advisory committees and start interviewing witnesses behind closed doors before the inquiry even began — a delay that Ratushny said was "a big mistake."

"They just got off on the wrong foot and they never got on track at all," Ratushny said.

The commission has said the interviews completed behind the scenes were needed to build a foundation of evidence that could be supplemented by live testimony to fill in any gaps.