The inquiry into the mass massacre that took 22 lives in Nova Scotia last year has issued nearly 50 subpoenas to compel the provision of documents from a number of entities, including the RCMP.
All of the authorities and institutions involved have been “extremely responsive,” according to Barbara McLean, the inquiry’s director of investigations.
According to McLean, the commission of investigation, which has been working for 11 months, has utilized subpoenas to obtain material from the Canada Border Services Agency and “community services” that interacted with the culprit.
She did not provide details, but McLean’s disclosure reveals the commission is using its legal powers to obtain evidence that might otherwise be beyond its reach.
The provincial and federal governments had initially said the killings on April 18-19, 2020, would be the subject of a less rigorous review, but they changed course and agreed to a joint inquiry in July 2020 after the families of victims launched a series of protests.
The commission will have public hearings starting next month, with a final report due in November 2022.
The Mounties have confirmed that on the night of April 18, 2020, a lone shooter in Portapique, N.S., set fire to numerous residences and killed 13 people before eluding authorities by impersonating an RCMP officer and driving a car that appeared identical to a police cruiser.
He resumed killing those he knew and others at random the next morning before being fatally shot by a Mountie at a gas station in Enfield, N.S., about an hour north of Halifax.
During the 13 hours he was on the loose, the killer drove over 100 kilometers.
Source_ The Canadian Press
