'That's not acceptable': Families of N.S. shooting victims, lawyers boycott inquiry in protest
There were plenty of empty seats at the Mass Casualty Commission's first day in Truro, N.S., Wednesday -- seats that would normally be filled.
It was the result of a boycott of the inquiry by many of those whose loved ones were killed in Nova Scotia's mass shooting in April 2020.
“It's total bullshit. I'll call it what it is,” said Nick Beaton, whose pregnant wife Kristen was killed on the second day of Gabriel Wortman’s massacre.
He joined his lawyers for a news conference in downtown Truro Wednesday to say the commission is failing.
“When these three (commissioners) got hired on, they have the power to subpoena and ask any question in the world, to anybody, and they're not using it," he said. “And they're scrubbing, they're scrubbing the words before they come out.”
The boycott comes after the commissioners' decision Tuesday to allow two senior RCMP decision-makers to testify in a recorded video interview, answering direct questions from commission counsel only.
Any other questions from other lawyers must be submitted in writing, to be asked at counsel's discretion.
"Two of the most critical RCMP members who assisted with the response in Portapique are being kept away from our clients,” says lawyer Sandra McCulloch. “That's not acceptable to our clients.”
“Our clients don't want to be used as pawns,” adds lawyer Rob Pineo. “Lending legitimacy to the process as if we're in agreement with how this commission is being run in that regard.”
Other lawyers are also boycotting proceedings.
Tara Miller, who represents another relative of Kristen Beaton, told CTV News she will not attend this week or the next. The lawyer for the Bond family, Joshua Bryson, won’t be attending next week on the instruction of his clients.
"We feel like, if we're going to be marginalized to this extent, there's really not much point in us being here to participate in these two witnesses,” says Bryson.
The commission insists accommodations don't keep it from doing its work.
“We will not allow accommodations that prevent the commission from gathering necessary information,” head commissioner Michael MacDonald told the commission in his opening statements Wednesday.
Senior commission counsel Emily Hill says the inquiry doesn't have any other requests for special accommodations at this point in time.
“But if we receive those requests, we'll deal with them in the same way,” says Hill.
That’s not exactly what Nick Beaton and his lawyers want to hear, in a search for answers they say the inquiry is only making more difficult on families.
“My baby, my wife are gone, nothing's going to change that,” says Beaton. “But I'm trying to stop the next husband, father, from going through the same thing. I’m not going to stop fighting.”
Wednesday, the commission heard testimony from Staff Sgt. Bruce Briers, who served as an RCMP risk manager on April 19, 2020 – the second day of the mass shooting.
Twenty-two Nova Scotians were killed in the rampage over April 18 and 19, 2020.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Cisco reveals security breach, warns of state-sponsored spy campaign
State-sponsored actors targeted security devices used by governments around the world, according to technology firm Cisco Systems, which said the network devices are coveted intrusion points by spies.
I just don't get Taylor Swift
It's one thing to say you like Taylor Swift and her music, but don't blame CNN's AJ Willingham's when she says she just 'oesn't get' the global phenomenom.
From New York to Arizona: Inside the head-spinning week of Trump's legal drama
The first criminal prosecution of a former president began in earnest with opening statements and testimony in a lower Manhattan courtroom. But the action quickly spread to involve more than half a dozen cases in four states and the nation's capital. Twice during the week, lawyers for Trump were simultaneously appearing in different courtrooms.
Tornadoes collapse buildings and level homes in Nebraska and Iowa
Tornadoes wreaked havoc Friday in the Midwest, causing a building to collapse with dozens of people inside and destroying and damaging hundreds of homes, many around Omaha, Neb.
Decoy bear used to catch man who illegally killed a grizzly, B.C. conservation officers say
A man has been handed a lengthy hunting ban and fined thousands of dollars for illegally killing a grizzly bear, B.C. conservation officers say.
Invasive and toxic hammerhead worms make themselves at home in Ontario
Ontario is now home to an invasive and toxic worm species that can grow up to three feet long and can be dangerous to small animals and pets.
Last letters of pioneering climber who died on Everest reveal dark side of mountaineering
George Mallory is renowned for being one of the first British mountaineers to attempt to scale the dizzying heights of Mount Everest during the 1920s. Nearly a century later, newly digitized letters shed light on Mallory’s hopes and fears about ascending Everest.
opinion RFK Jr.'s presidential candidacy and its potential threat to Biden and Trump
Although it's still unclear how much damage Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s candidacy can do to either Joe Biden or Donald Trump this election, Washington political columnist Eric Ham says what is clear is both sides recognize the potential threat.
Toxic testing standoff: Family leaves house over air quality
A Sherwood Park family says their new house is uninhabitable. The McNaughton's say they were forced to leave the house after living there for only a week because contaminants inside made it difficult to breathe.