Former N.S. lieutenant-governor joins Mass Casualty monitoring committee

The first Nova Scotia female lieutenant-governor is the new chair of the committee responsible for monitoring progress on the final Mass Casualty report recommendations.

According to a news release from Nova Scotia, Myra Freeman, who served as lieutenant-governor from 2000 to 2007, was appointed as the chair of Progress Monitoring Committee on Tuesday. The committee launched last year to keep track of the implementation of multiple recommendations in the 3,000-page final report by the Mass Casualty Commission, which was issued in March 2023.

“I am honoured to have been selected as the incoming chair for the Progress Monitoring Committee,” Freeman said in the release. “The committee has laid a solid foundation in its first year, and I look forward to working with the committee members to build on that important work of monitoring progress made by the provincial and federal governments and the RCMP, and communicating that progress to Nova Scotians and Canadians.”

Freeman, a member of the Order of Canada, will take over as chair from Linda Lee Oland, whose one-year term ended this week. Freeman’s time as chair will run until Aug. 31, 2026, at which point the committee’s work is expected to end.

The Mass Casualty Commission held a public inquiry on the rampage in April 2020 that claimed 22 lives. The monitoring committee issued a report on how governments and the RCMP are responding to the final report earlier this month, but did not offer an evaluation on the progress made so far.

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