(Halifax) RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki apologized Wednesday for the police force’s failure to meet public expectations during the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia, saying she hopes the confidence will come back over time.
Posted at 5:35 p.m.
“I want to apologize on behalf of the RCMP, but in such a way that we were not what you expected of us […] or what we had to be for you,” the commissioner said near the end of her second day of testimony at the public inquiry.
The public inquiry – known as the Mass Casualty Commission – is looking into how a 51-year-old denturist with a record of violence acquired a replica police vehicle, semi-automatic weapons and committed 22 murders in 13 hours on April 18 and 19, 2020.
I wish we could have been more and be different and we could have predicted and had more hindsight. […] But I still think (the killing) was extremely heinous; I have never seen anything like it. I have 37 years of experience.
Brenda Lucki, RCMP Commissioner
The apology came at the end of a day in which the commissioner was repeatedly questioned by lawyers for the families of the victims about the RCMP’s failure to implement reforms quickly following the murders in Nova Scotia and after previous reviews and investigations related to other tragedies.
Josh Bryson, an attorney for the family of two victims, asked Mr.me Lucki why the RCMP did not appear to have implemented recommendations from a January 13, 2020 review of the RCMP investigation into the homicide of Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old man from Red Pheasant First Nation in Saskatchewan , who was fatally shot on a rural farm near Biggar, Saskatchewan, in 2016. That review found major crime investigators had a “late presence” at the crime scene.
Mr Bryson noted that it took police more than 18 hours to enter the home of Peter and Joy Bond, who were among 22 people killed by a gunman driving a replica police vehicle on 18 and April 19, 2020.
Noting that the lawyer raised “many, many good points,” Commissioner Lucki speculated that the RCMP had failed to properly communicate lessons learned from past cases to police.
“Have we properly communicated this (policy) to people and members of the RCMP? Maybe we didn’t. Maybe we have a responsibility to better communicate our policies,” she said.
Me Bryson replied, “You’re sitting here today, two years later, and you don’t know why the Bond house was left unattended for 18 hours? And you haven’t delegated anyone to review this, have you? »
“No, I didn’t,” replied M.me Lucky.
According to her, her job is to see issues from “10,000 feet”, adding that she cannot personally go into detail about past political reforms, such as changes in how officers respond to mass killings.
Later Wednesday, Jane Lenehan, who represents the family of victim Gina Goulet, said her clients believe the RCMP had “miserablely” let them down because the scene of Gina Goulet’s murder was unsecured and unattended. . In the weeks following the killings, the victim’s family found a bullet casing and a piece of lead in their home, Ms.e Lenehan to Commissioner Lucki.
Gina Goulet’s daughter and son-in-law said the RCMP never officially notified them of their loved one’s death and did not promptly notify them where his body had been taken.
When asked if these actions met expectations, Ms.me Lucki initially apologized and went on to say, “No one would do this intentionally, but that doesn’t make it right. »
The commissioner said she will “commit to any recommendations that we can implement from this commission.”