Partner of N.S. gunman testifies Friday at mass shooting inquiry

The partner of the gunman who killed 22 people in the Nova Scotia mass shooting will testify in person for the first time Friday morning in Halifax.

The Mass Casualty Commission leading a public inquiry into the 2020 rampage has said Lisa Banfield, Gabriel Wortman's long-time partner, will only be asked direct questions by commission counsel.

"She's very apprehensive, intimidated, frightened … there's going to be a lot of revisiting of the trauma from the past. But she chose to come here in person. She was given the opportunity to testify by video link, and she chose not to," Banfield's lawyer James Lockyer said Thursday.

"She's showing, you know, a lot of courage there in my view, and she's going to do her best."

The gunman began his rampage on April 18, 2020, after attacking Banfield during a celebration of their 19th anniversary. The gunman's long history of violence, emotional abuse and other controlling behaviour toward Banfield was outlined in a foundational document released earlier this week. 

As of Friday, Banfield has completed four interviews with police since the massacre, a video walk-through of her experience on April 18 and 19 in Portapique, N.S., and five recent interviews with the commission itself. 

Soon after the video walk-through in October 2020, the RCMP charged Banfield with supplying ammunition to the gunman and she stopped cooperating with police. Banfield also, under her lawyer's advice, initially refused to speak at the inquiry. That stance changed when her charge was referred to restorative justice in March.

According to a commission release, the decision to not allow questions from other participant lawyers is based on the volume of information Banfield has already provided, and her position as a "survivor of the perpetrator's violence."

Gillian Hnatiw, commission counsel, also said earlier this week that while there may be "follow-up questions" put to Banfield on Friday about the shootings, their team will not be asking her to retell that story.

Michael Scott of Patterson Law, the firm representing the families of most victims, said they were "shocked" to hear that.

Scott said their clients already had significant concerns with the commission blocking direct cross-examination. He is not planning to submit any written questions for the commission to consider.

Scott said there is "absolutely no point" in having Banfield give sworn testimony in person under the conditions the commission has laid out.

"We can be forgiven for concluding that Ms. Banfield has been called forward for no other reason than ... it can be said that she was called," Scott said Thursday.

He added that the commission's trauma-informed mandate would have been better served by having Banfield testify once in person, and not sit through multiple lengthy interviews behind closed doors.