The Rodgers Brief

The Mass Casualty Commission continued its focus on the various contextual elements of domestic, intimate partner, and family violence today with two further panel discussions. These represented the seventh and eighth sessions of the MCC which have focused on these topics, each of which provided ‘context’ rather than specific analysis of the April 18-19, 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting.  In he...

The Mass Casualty Commission took a welcome break from academic discussion panels today to explore evidence about the finances of the killer, and to hear from an RCMP officer who dealt with the complaint from Brenda Forbes, which she described in her evidence last week. The financial misdealings Foundational Document gave a window into the degree of illegal activity in which Gabriel Wortman was en...

After the drama of last week, which concluded with the (unsatisfactory) appearance of Lisa Banfield, the MCC has turned back to the monotony of further discussion panels for the week ahead, with an interlude tomorrow to hear from a police witness and examine Gabriel Wortman’s “financial misdealings”.  The focus of today’s “roundtable” was “Mass Casualties, IPV, GBV and Family Violence: Explor...

Today, more than two years after the Nova Scotia mass shooting, the common law spouse of the killer has finally spoken in public, as she gave evidence in the Mass Casualty Commission proceedings. Lisa Banfield spent 19 years with Gabriel Wortman before he went on a rampage and killed 22 people over the course of 13 hours on April 18-19, 2020. It is difficult to know what to make of Ms. Banfield. S...

The Mass Casualty Commission hosted two panel discussions today, which served as something of a reprieve, or calm before the storm, of a week focused on the evidence of the gunman’s spouse, Lisa Banfield. The panel discussions focused on (the futility of) predicting mass shootings and the psychology of mass killers. Ms. Banfield will be speaking tomorrow, and so in anticipation of Ms. Banfield’s a...

This was a dramatic day of evidence in the Mass Casualty Commission. For the first time, we have heard the voice of Lisa Banfield, and were able to walk in her shoes, in a sense, as she did a re-enactment of her movements during the overnight hours of April 18-19, 2020. This was all in advance of her expected appearance on Friday, and seemed designed to remove all drama from that appearance. Befor...

The Mass Casualty Commission today focused on Gabriel Wortman’s extensive history of violence with people other than his spouse. There was a presentation of a Foundational Document summarizing Wortman’s violent encounters with others, followed by a witness, Wortman’s former neighbour, Brenda Forbes. Ms. Forbes knew about some key incidents of violence, and had reported Wortman to the police. &nbsp...

The Mass Casualty Commission focused its attention today on masculinity, past violence committed by Gabriel Wortman, and gender-based violence in rural Nova Scotia. Two California professors presented their research on how data in the US shows how men tend to be the perpetrators in mass shootings, there was a Foundational Document presentation on Wortman’s past violent behavior, and there was an e...

As part of their continuing effort to reduce the size of their viewing audience, the Mass Casualty Commission today featured a roundtable discussion on “Rurality and Community Well-Being”. The information on the MCC website suggested that the goal of the discussion was to address culture and attitudes of rural life in Nova Scotia, limited and differential service delivery in rural areas, and healt...

On the second day of proceedings this week before the Canada Day long weekend, there were three featured items on the MCC agenda. First, there was an announcement on a schedule of significant witnesses who have been subpoenaed to appear over the summer. Then, there were two roundtable discussions, one on mental health impacts on first responders, and one on policing rural communities.  Commis...

After a week of dramatic testimony and revelations which made national news, the MCC is looking to be much quieter as we end the month of June. Today, there was a seven-person roundtable discussion on the mental health needs of families and communities after a mass casualty incident. On Thursday, there will be a similar discussion, focused on the needs of first responders after a mass casualty. Pa...

On a day when the MCC proceedings included a technical roundtable on communications interoperability, followed by an expert witness presentation on supporting survivors, the main public focus turned to (or remained focused on) a brewing political controversy. The Commissioner of the RCMP, Brenda Lucki, has become the subject of heavy criticism following the revelation that she tried to compel seni...

On a day when the MCC proceedings included a technical roundtable on communications interoperability, followed by an expert witness presentation on supporting survivors, the main public focus turned to (or remained focused on) a brewing political controversy. The Commissioner of the RCMP, Brenda Lucki, has become the subject of heavy criticism following the revelation that she tried to compel seni...

The proceedings today focused on some of the after-effects of the shootings and the services made available to family members and others. There was a Foundational Document presentation on mental health supports offered, and then witness testimony from Cst. Wayne “Skipper” Bent, who was assigned to be the family liaison officer on behalf of the RCMP. The most explosive part of the evidence was left...

The MCC proceedings featured two decisions from the Commissioners, on witness questioning and the release of the videos from the Big Stop. Commission lawyer Emily Hill presented evidence today on the chaotic and slow process of notifying next of kin about the deaths caused by the NS mass shooter, a process which angered many family members, and is at least partially responsible for the current sta...

The MCC’s short week of proceedings continued and concluded today with two further ‘small group’ sessions. The morning session featured service providers from Victim’s Services, the Medical Examiners office, and a funeral director. In the afternoon session, we heard from MLA Tom Taggart, and Mayor Christine Blair. It is in the mandate of the MCC to look at the services that were available and prov...

The stage had been set for a hearing tomorrow morning on an application by Frank Magazine, supported by other media organizations, along with family participants, to have surveillance videos from the Enfield Big Stop be published as exhibits in the Mass Casualty Commission. The issue has been resolved, but how it played out has exposed what appears to be a rift between the MCC lawyers and the thre...

The Mass Casualty Commission is sitting for two days this week, during which there will be a series of “Small Group” sessions, which we are assured is different than a “Roundtable” or “Witness Panel”, despite their similar appearance.  We had been expecting to hear about the resolution of an application to the Commissioners by Frank Magazine (and supported by many others) first thing Monday m...

There were foundational documents presented today dealing with the (ultimately futile) helicopter efforts, assistance from the Halifax Police, and the 911 and radio systems in NS.  The one RCMP helicopter that serves NS and NB was out of service for nearly two and a half months around the time of the mass shooting, and there was no backup plan in place. There were military helicopters in Gree...

There were two witnesses today appearing before the Mass Casualty Commission, one civilian member, and one staff sergeant, each of whom had a role in public communications during the events of the mass casualty. In the morning Director of Strategic Communications, Lia Scanlan testified. In the afternoon, Staff Sergeant Addie MacCallum gave his account of the events of April 18-19, 2020. Both witne...

One of the main complaints in the immediate aftermath of the April 18-19, 2020 mass casualty events was the use by the RCMP of social media posts to warn the public, rather than issuing an emergency alert to citizens’ cell phones, and then the low degree of accuracy of the content of those posts. Today, after a brief presentation by Commission lawyer Anna Mancini, three witnesses attempted to expl...

Just before being appointed as one of the three Commissioners of the NS Mass Casualty Commission, Toronto-based lawyer, Kim Stanton finished writing a book on Inquiries, called Reconciling Truths. There are several themes and lessons the MCC may draw from this work, which might help it fulfill its mandate, and increase the level of public trust in the Commission.

The focus of the MCC was on the Town of Truro today, with a Foundational Document and witness discussing the interaction between the RCMP and Truro Police as Gabriel Wortman made his way towards, and ultimately through, the Town of Truro.  We have heard from Chief Dave MacNeil before today, as he has been interviewed about the Truro Police role in and knowledge of the killer’s movements throu...

This was the second day in a row where the Mass Casualty Commission had hosted experts from a wide range of locations to discuss approaches to critical incidents. Unfortunately, as was the case yesterday, there was no discussion whatsoever of the events of the April 18-19, 2020 mass casualty in Nova Scotia. There were two panel discussions. The first one in the morning dealt with issues around mak...

There were two discussion panels held today by the Mass Casualty Commission, dealing with responses to critical incidents. The first one dealt with how best to prepare the police and other first responding stakeholders for a critical incident. The second session dealt with how to corporate civilians, 911 operators and others into the response package.