RCMP accused of using ammunition charge to deflect from N.S. mass shooting failures

The lawyer for one of three people charged with giving ammunition to the gunman behind Nova Scotia's April 2020 mass shooting is accusing RCMP of using his client as a "scapegoat" in order to deflect attention away from the force's own failings during the 13-hour killing rampage.

Court documents filed in the case are shedding new light on how Brian Brewster, the brother-in-law of the gunman's spouse, alleges he was treated by the Mounties following the killings, and accuse police of violating his charter rights when they interviewed him.

"The police used manipulation and trickery to get statements from him that now they're turning around and attempting to use against him in a provincial court," Tom Singleton, the Halifax lawyer who represents Brewster, said in an interview. Brewster, 61, of Lucasville, N.S., has pleaded not guilty to one charge of providing the shooter with .223-calibre Remington cartridges and .40-calibre Smith & Wesson cartridges in the month before the massacre, which police don't believe he knew about in advance.

Gabriel Wortman murdered 22 people, including a pregnant woman, in several rural communities on April 18-19, 2020, and burned a number of homes, including his cottage in Portapique, N.S. He managed to travel nearly 200 kilometres, most of it in a replica RCMP cruiser while disguised as a Mountie, before police shot and killed him at a gas station.

The families of the people who died and members of the public have accused the RCMP of not doing enough to stop the gunman and of failing to adequately warn the public about the danger as the shooter continued to kill both acquaintances and strangers.

The Crown disputes the suggestion investigators were obligated to tell Brewster he could consult a lawyer during an interview, and it will be up to a judge to decide if a statement Brewster gave to RCMP in June 2020 will be admissible when his trial starts next summer.

The Crown is proceeding summarily, which means a conviction carries a maximum fine of $5,000 and a maximum jail term of less than two years. Singleton said if his client is found guilty, he's more likely to be sentenced to a brief period of probation than to jail.

But although the charge is relatively minor, the case is unusual, the lawyer said. 

"The amount of resources that are being thrown into this by the RCMP and the Public Prosecution Service is unlike any other summary conviction case I've done in my 30-odd years practising law," he said.

"My personal belief is this is not any more than an effort to distract attention away from the incompetence of the RCMP. …. I think the RCMP just love the idea of having a scapegoat that they can deflect attention to away from themselves." 

The RCMP said it would be inappropriate to comment as the matter is before the courts. 

It's not surprising the RCMP would put a great deal of effort into the case given the scrutiny the force faced in the wake of the shootings, said Wayne MacKay, a professor emeritus at Dalhousie University's Schulich School of Law.

"The RCMP received a lot of negative publicity out of the handling of the Portapique tragedy and that they would no doubt be motivated to try to deal with any aspect, even a fairly minor one like this, in a way that allowed them to appear as both an effective and fair police force," he told CBC.

Even though the gunman was dead, the Mounties launched an investigation. Police said they were looking into how Wortman obtained the weapons he used and whether anyone assisted him in any way.