Inquiry into N.S. shooting necessary to dispel rumour, improve public policy: senators

Two senators who have added their names to a letter calling for a public inquiry into the mass shooting in Nova Scotia earlier this year say a full examination of the facts is required to dispel rumours about the attack and prevent it from happening again. 

"It screams for a very public transparent process that examines all the issues surrounding violence against women, surrounding how someone could do this, why the police didn't notify as soon as possible that this was happening, why there wasn't at the very least an Amber Alert, why there wasn't a notice that this man was impersonating a police officer as soon as they knew," said Sen. Kim Pate told CBC News Network's Power & Politics Monday. 

"All of those questions need to be answered, in large part, so that we can prevent these sorts of things from happening in the future for sure."

Nova Scotia senators sent letters to Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and Nova Scotia Justice Minister Mark Furey on June 7 and again on June 29 to ask them to join forces for a public inquiry. Pate and Sen. Paula Simons signed the third letter, dated July 18. 

Senators from across Canada have since joined the call to action by sending a third letter asking for an inquiry into the April shootings which left 22 people dead.

In addition to Blair and Furey, the third letter is also addressed to Minister of Justice and Attorney General David Lametti, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Development Maryam Monsef and Kelly Regan, Nova Scotia's minister responsible for the advisory council on the status of women.

"There have also been innuendoes in the media that the shooter in this instance may have been a confidential informant of the RCMP. There's not clear evidence of that but certainly articles in the Maclean's magazine have raised that possibility and there are real concerns," Simons told host Vassy Kapelos. 

Informant rumours

The RCMP have been trying to quash speculation about the Maclean's story, which alleges the gunman was acting as a confidential informant or agent for the Mounties. The RCMP have repeatedly said they had no relationship with the gunman, and call the allegations "very sensational and factually incorrect."

"The longer it takes the more questions people ask and the more it looks like something's being hidden," said Pate. "It strikes me that it would be in both government's best interests to get all of the details out as quickly and as transparently as possible."

Simons said that aside from separating rumour from fact, an inquiry would allow politicians to craft public policy that might make a difference going forward. 

"That's why we'd like to see an inquiry, not for the sake of the political theater, but for the sake of getting public policy answers so that we can try to prevent incidents like this in the future," she said.

The other senators that signed the July 18 letter include: 

• Margaret Dawn Anderson.
• Wanda Thomas Bernard.
• Robert Black.
• Yvonne Boyer.
• René Cormier.
• Brent Cotter.
• Mary Coyle.
• Jean-Guy Dagenais.
• Donna Dasko.
• Colin Deacon.
• Marty Deacon.
• Tony Dean.
• Pat Duncan.
• Josée Forest-Niesing.
• Brian Francis.
• Rosa Galvez.
• Stephen Greene.
• Nancy Hartling.
• Mobina Jaffer.
• Judith Keating.
• Stan Kutcher.
• Francis Lankin.
• Tony Loffreda.
• Sandra Lovelace-Nicholas.
• Marie-Françoise Mégie.
• Mary Jane McCallum.
• Marilou McPhedran.
• Ratna Omidvar.
• Dennis Patterson.
• Mohamed-Iqbal Ravalia.
• David Richards.
• Pierrette Ringuette.
• Murray Sinclair.
• Pamela Wallin.
• Howard Wetston.