Murphy’s Logic: The mass shooting inquiry should put facts over feelings

It took almost five years, but the public inquiry into the Westray Mine disaster ultimately produced a report that was both damning and specific about the many failures that led to the explosion that claimed 26 lives.

It named names and assigned responsibility and recommended changes to prevent it from happening again. Although no one was ever convicted of a crime, Justice Peter Richard left no doubt that the conduct of individuals and institutions -- characterized as incompetent, deceitful, and apathetic -- led to a preventable disaster. 

And, he went further, finding it ought to have been prevented.

These many years later, the commission investigating the 2020 Nova Scotia mass murder seems well on track to producing a report unlikely to answer the public's most basic questions: How did it happen and why? Who in the RCMP was making decisions during and after the killing spree and could it have been prevented?       

The commission's overarching mandate -- to be trauma-focused -- suggests protecting feelings may pre-empt facts.  

From the very beginning, the RCMP have been defensive and secretive about their handling of the events of April 2020. The initial focus of the RCMP’s briefings was on their own lost and injured members and on what were characterized as the heroic efforts of the responding officers.

But, in fairness, this was no triumph of policing, as a killer kept killing, while the public remained largely unaware of the threat.

It is not a sign of disrespect to analyze and question the actions of people who often heroically wear a uniform of service. The uniform is not a shield from accountability. And while it is true that feelings must be respected as words are parsed and actions are critically reviewed, there can be no escaping responsibility for those who are empowered and entrusted to protect the public.

Assigning responsibility is not a vengeful laying of blame.

In the case of the events of April 2020, many serious mistakes were made. One would think or hope that the leadership of the RCMP, and the people to whom they report, would be first among those who would want to know what went wrong -- if they don't actually know already.

Beyond insulting the memories of the dead and further bruising the emotions of their family members, the misguided attempt to have feelings trump facts has provided oxygen to the already burning fire of suspicion of coverup.

The lack of information from the very beginning, the emphasis on the mass murder as a police shooting, rather than wholesale community carnage, was the kindling that stoked the fire of suspicion.

Although the commission’s hearings have produced a slow drip of new information, most of it should have been made public long ago and might have been were it not for the ease with which privacy is now used to perpetuate secrecy.

Without even waiting to read the commission’s report, it seems likely to be dismissed by some, and perhaps many, as a whitewash -- a part of a coverup. 

And regrettably, it has already taken quite a very long time to accomplish very little.

It is not too late for the commissioners to look to the example of the Westray inquiry, to assign responsibility and put the facts first.