'Somebody is listening:' Families of N.S. shooting victims hope final report brings change

For months, the families of the victims of Nova Scotia's mass shooting in 2020 wondered if an inquiry would deliver answers.

But some say they were "pleasantly surprised" Thursday to see strong criticism of the RCMP and clear recommendations for how to make Canadians safer.

The Mass Casualty Commission released its lengthy report with 130 recommendations to a packed room in Truro, N.S.

"We were pleasantly surprised," said Darcy Dobson, daughter of victim Heather O'Brien. "We didn't expect them to crack down so hard on the policing in this province as hard as they did. So, that was great, actually, because there definitely needs to be some change in policing.

"It was really nice to actually see somebody is listening."

Dobson said she still thinks the inquiry itself was a "flawed" process that retraumatized the families, while certain RCMP officers were protected by not having to answer direct questions from family lawyers. She said that's why many people had "low expectations" for the report.

But she said it was good to see the level of detail about how RCMP actions put people in danger, and structures like provincial mental-health services failed families.

Dobson said the RCMP treated families poorly both during and after the mass shootings, leaving them to "jump through hoops" to get any information, and next of kin notifications were often done poorly. 

The main recommendations that stuck out to her were structural changes with the RCMP, and a review of the national Alert Ready system.

When asked what her mom would think, Dobson said: "I hope that she would be proud, I really do. And I know that she would have done the exact same thing for me or any one of my siblings."

The report sets out findings on how and why things happened as they did across those two days, and outlines recommendations for police, governments and individuals.

Those recommendations include calls for major changes to RCMP oversight, processes and culture; a process to rethink the structure of policing in Nova Scotia; a national review of public alerting; greater focus on addressing intimate partner violence; and a much expanded collaborative model to ensure community safety.

Charlene Bagley, who lost her father, Tom Bagley, agreed that she was happy with such a wide-ranging report that "looks really good on paper."

"Whether everything gets done that says it's going to be done moving forward, we will see," Bagley said.