Trudeau says government will adopt 'many' recommendations from N.S. mass shooting report
Mass Casualty Commission report made 130 recommendations over more than 3,000 pages
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government will adopt "many" of the recommendations in the report on the deadliest mass shooting in modern Canadian history — but it's still not clear which commitments Ottawa will implement.
Last week, the commissioners investigating the deaths of 22 people in Nova Scotia at the hands of a gunman in 2020 released their final report, which made 130 recommendations over more than 3,000 pages.
Most of those recommendations were aimed at the RCMP — which the Mass Casualty Commission denounced for failing to warn community members of the danger they were in, depriving them of potentially life-saving information.
Among other things, the commission called for a thorough review of how the entire force operates, stricter firearm laws and a new three-year, degree-based model of police education for all police services in Canada.
"We're looking very, very carefully at that report and we will move forward and take on many of the recommendations. We will be answering fulsomely to them in the coming weeks," Trudeau told a news conference Monday.
"Canadians deserve to feel safe in their communities, whether it's around gun control, whether it's around community policing, whether it's around supports for mental health challenges and communities. There is a lot that we need to do and we'll be there as a federal government doing it."
The inquiry commissioners pointed out in their report that the RCMP has a history of failing to follow outside advice after deadly events and urged the government to make sure this report is different.
They flagged the fact that some of the recommendations made after the 2014 shooting in Moncton, N.B., were not in place at the time of the gun massacre on the weekend of April 18-19, 2020 in Nova Scotia.
"We urge the responsible minister, the management advisory board, the media and the public to hold the RCMP accountable for making these necessary changes," the report said.
"We conclude that the RCMP's future as a police service that has the trust of the communities it serves depends on its capacity to meet this challenge."
NDP MP calls for end to political interference
An NDP MP says there's at least one recommendation the government could act on quickly.
The Mass Casualty Commission report calls for clearer guardrails between Ottawa and the RCMP following accusations last summer that then-RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki meddled in the investigation to boost the Liberal government's planned gun control legislation.
The report found her remarks "were not partisan and they do not show that there had been attempted political interference." But the report recommends changes to the RCMP Act to clarify the relationship between the RCMP and Ottawa.
Last year, NDP MP Alistair MacGregor tabled a private member's bill that aims to sharpen the language in the RCMP Act to shield the commissioner from political influence.
WATCH | PM says government will adopt 'many of the recommendations' in MCC report:
Bill C-303 would clarify what directions the minister of public safety can issue to the RCMP commissioner and would require any such directions to be given in writing and tabled in Parliament.
"We've done the hard work. There are clear examples for them to draw from," said MacGregor.
"Ultimately, this is about follow-through from the government to a very serious incident that happened in Nova Scotia, and just really trying to honour the calls for reform and how the RCMP operates."
Lucki testified last fall during the Emergencies Act inquiry that she also supports clearer directions for her successors.
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