Retired tactical officer calls RCMP 'broken organization' at N.S. mass shooting inquiry

Two RCMP tactical officers testifying Monday at the inquiry examining the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting say responding was made more challenging by not having an adequately staffed team, overnight air support or the technology to pinpoint their locations.

Emergency Response Team leader Cpl. Tim Mills, who decided to retire six months after the shootings, and Cpl. Trent Milton, who took over team leader responsibilities, answered questions together in a witness panel.

In his testimony, as in his behind-the-scenes interview, Mills said he was proud of his team's efforts but didn't hold back criticism of his former employer, calling it a "broken organization."

"The RCMP as an organization wants to give this impression they care about their members.... Commissioner Brenda Lucki has said herself, 'We'll do whatever we can. We can't do enough.' The way we were treated after this is disgusting, absolutely disgusting — it's why I left the RCMP," he said Monday morning.

He said senior management failed to support tactical officers in the weeks after the mass shooting by turning down a request for time to debrief together.

Mills said he proposed having the team work on administrative tasks at headquarters for two weeks in hopes it would help them process together the trauma they experienced.

But despite initial support from psychologists who met with the team, he said the eight part-time members of the group were told to return to their regular front-line duties in their home detachments or take sick leave.

"There are members off today because of Portapique, not working, that didn't see what we [saw]," said Mills. [They] didn't experience what we experienced. We were at multiple sites, multiple casualties and they forced our guys back to work, our part-timers back to work, a week and a half after."

Milton, who is still working, was more measured, but testified the recommendation to debrief together was consistent with what he'd learned at a SWAT team leadership course.

He said the instructor shared best practices for mental health support developed after other mass shootings, like the 1999 Columbine High School massacre in the U.S., where high numbers of first responders left their positions afterward.

They were told that teams should "keep busy, you need to keep together and be with like-minded individuals. And that's all we were asking for at that point in time," Milton said. 

In his interview with commission investigators, Milton said the weeks after the mass shooting were difficult because of the refusal to allow part-time members to take two weeks away from front-line duties. 

"It was kind of a huge jab … you're telling me I now need to go home and sit in my basement by myself and try to cope with this by myself," Milton told the inquiry in his interview. He remained at work but others took leave.

While some senior officers were supportive, Milton said there were "huge gaps" that "went beyond disrespect" and reflected "ignorance" of what they were going through.