Nova Scotia government says judge dismissed from inquiry had rejected offer for help

The province says a judge dismissed from leading a high-profile inquiry had rejected an offer for help, even though he had asked for four extensions.

The Nova Scotia government says a judge dismissed from leading a high-profile inquiry had rejected an offer for help, even though he had asked for four extensions to allow him to complete his final report.

The office of the province’s attorney general issued a statement Tuesday saying the now-retired provincial court judge, Warren Zimmer, was not given a fourth extension because the government had no reason to expect that agreeing to that request would yield a report.

As well, department spokesman Peter McLaughlin said that when Zimmer first asked for an extension after the inquiry’s hearings concluded in April 2022, the provincial court judge promised to deliver the report in September 2022.

“There have been three … extensions and no report has been issued,” McLaughlin said in the statement. “Judge Zimmer was also offered additional resources to support him, which were declined.”

Zimmer was appointed in July 2018 to lead a provincial fatality inquiry that investigated why Afghanistan war veteran Lionel Desmond killed three family members and himself in their rural Nova Scotia home in January 2017. The inquiry faced several delays, including an 11-month adjournment caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Zimmer did not respond to a request for an interview.

McLaughlin said the government could not impose a deadline on Zimmer because of the independence of the judiciary and, by extension, the fatality inquiry. The province’s Fatalities Inquiries Act, however, permits the appointment of a new judge when an inquiry judge retires. That’s what happened on June 30 when the government decided against extending Zimmer’s term on the bench.

“Our only focus is to provide the families and all Nova Scotians with the answers they deserve as quickly as possible,” McLaughlin said.