Head of Ministry Chris Leather testified at the Mass Casualty Commission, the inquiry into the killings of 22 people — including a pregnant woman — on April 18-19, 2020, by a gunman driving a replica police cruiser. Committee counsel Rachel Young questioned Leather about the accuracy of some of the information he shared in press conferences and how he prepared for it. Leather said he sometimes had only five or six minutes to go over talking points and often had to rely on his memory to answer reporters’ questions. “That’s what led to some of the incorrect accounting,” he said. “I’ll say it right away. I obviously missed the mark on more than two occasions.” Twenty-two people died on April 18 and 19, 2020. Top row from left: Gina Goulet, Dawn Gulensin, Jolene Oliver, Frank Gulensin, Sean McLeod, Alana Jenkins. Second row: John Zahl, Lisa McCully, Joey Webber, Heidi Stevenson, Heather O’Brien and Jamie Blair. Third row from top: Kristen Beaton, Lillian Campbell, Joanne Thomas, Peter Bond, Tom Bagley and Greg Blair. Bottom row: Emily Tuck, Joy Bond, Corrie Ellison and Aaron Tuck. (CBC) During the first press conference on the evening of April 19, Leather said that “more than 10 people” had been killed. But the public inquiry found that Leather had received information an hour before that press conference suggesting there were at least 17 victims and had known for hours that officers had discovered at least 14 bodies. “If you think about the now infamous ‘excessive’ expression I used, it was with the intention of not upsetting/offending/misleading… I was more concerned with giving a victim a set that was above what they really were, or in excess” , testified Wednesday. “And going to the number I chose, it actually ended up having the opposite effect.” Leather testified that the information he received before the press conference about the number of victims was constantly changing. “I had received information that led to that particular statement that I made that it was honestly over 10, maybe closer to 15, if we’re going to put a mark in the sand. But the problem was that it fluctuated. Depending on who gave me the information, it was 14, 17, back again.” Leather said he had a “discussion in the stairwell” with communications director Lia Scanlan, and “we agreed we should just cut it, put the track aside and go with a number.” Young asked Leather if he intended to mislead the public or withhold information during press conferences. “Absolutely not. I meant to do the opposite,” he replied.
The incident was initially described as a “firearms call”
Young pointed out that in press conferences on April 19 and 22, as well as in the first tweet sent out about the situation, it was described as a “firearms call.” Asked if that mischaracterized the seriousness of the event and could confuse or mislead the public about the risk, Leather said “in hindsight, that’s not the term I would use to describe it.” A second tweet posted on April 19 described the situation as an active shooter — which Leather agreed was more accurate. Young also asked about statements made in press conferences and press releases that the RCMP had “secured the area” when the shooter was still at large. Leather said that to him, “secured” means that officers are on the ground and working, and that “secured” would be a more appropriate description.
Officer’s security clearance ‘continuation requested’
During Leather’s testimony, he was asked about an officer safety bulletin that Truro police distributed to police agencies in 2011 regarding a tip about the gunman, Gabriel Wortman, warning that he “wanted to kill a police officer” and that possessed at least one gun. The tip was brought to the attention of the RCMP on April 19, 2020, when an officer with the Amherst Police Service recognized the gunman’s name and dug up the 2011 tip in his email. The committee had previously heard that the document was in a folder on a shared Drive. A screenshot from a 2011 officer safety bulletin that contained a tip about the man who, nine years later, killed 22 people in rural Nova Scotia. (Truro Police Service) Leather said the notice was not available to members in a searchable database and was not even a definitive document, but rather in excerpts “in this kind of jumbled, informal form.” The document did not reveal who gave the tip, but Leather said it was of “obvious importance” to find out who it was. “Their information … was relevant to the H-Strong investigation and God knows what else they knew and could bring to this criminal investigation,” Leather said. Young asked Leather about the fact that it appears no RCMP members interviewed Wortman in the wake of the 2011 tip. “The bulletin itself, given its contents, if you knew nothing more, begged for further investigation, certainly,” he said. “It was only logical that further inquiries would be made.”
Why wasn’t the municipal police called?
Leather was asked why he requested resources from the RCMP in New Brunswick during the mass casualty event instead of relying on municipal forces in Nova Scotia. In her capacity as head of the Nova Scotia Association of Chiefs of Police, Kentville Police Chief Julie Cecetto informed her colleagues on April 19 about how they could help the RCMP. Almost all responded with offers of additional officers, but were not called by the RCMP. Leather said this was due to concerns within the RCMP about interoperability, communications, training and expectations during an ongoing large event. “I think it’s fraught with danger,” he said. “When they come together to work on a high-stakes scenario, if they’re not reading off the same page, if they’re not aligned in their thinking, their training and how to approach a situation, what a terrible place to experience that breakdown.” In day-to-day situations, Leather said the RCMP often works with municipal agencies. He said the chiefs came together recently — spurred on by the truckers’ protests — to resolve some of those issues. “We’re getting there,” he said. “It’s a work in progress.” Leather told the commission he is aware of the sentiment of some municipal police agencies that the RCMP “feels superior.” He said changes in leadership at the Nova Scotia RCMP — including its impending move to Ottawa — should help improve relations. “As much as I’m sad to be gone, I’m happy for the person coming up behind me. They’ll have a clean slate and an opportunity to work with the city leaders without any of the baggage we’ve all been carrying around for the last two years.”
