HALIFAX – It’s been six years since a man disguised as an RCMP officer began a shooting rampage in rural Nova Scotia, killing 22 people including a teenager and a pregnant woman.
The worst mass shooting in modern Canadian history began after denture-maker Gabriel Wortman assaulted his common-law partner in Portapique, N.S., before fatally shooting neighbours, strangers and an RCMP officer.
His rampage went on for more than 13 hours until RCMP officers fired multiple shots at him and he shot himself in the head at a gas station north of Halifax, where he was pronounced dead.
The shooting prompted a public inquiry that resulted in more than 100 recommendations to improve policing, address intimate-partner violence and improve community safety.
Myra Freeman, the chair of the committee that’s been tasked with monitoring progress toward completing these recommendations, issued a statement saying the shooting has forever changed the lives of families, survivors, communities and all Nova Scotians.
“The grief experienced was felt across Canada, in the United States and beyond, and can still be felt to this day,” she said.
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Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston announced that flags would be lowered to half-mast at all provincial government buildings this weekend.
“It has been six years since Nova Scotia was forever changed by the events of April 18-19, 2020 — an event that stole the lives of innocent people in senseless acts of violence, and impacted countless others,” the premier said in a statement.
“As a government, we are working hard to implement recommendations made by the Mass Casualty Commission. This is the driving force as we work with municipalities, the federal government and the RCMP to make communities in Nova Scotia safer.”
On Friday, Canada’s top Mountie apologized for the RCMP’s decision to send officers to train in an area of Nova Scotia where some residents were slain during the mass shooting.
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme sent a letter Thursday to Nova Scotia MP Alana Hirtle saying the exercises caused “harm and trauma” to people living in the Debert area, where two women were fatally shot on April 19, 2020.
“I know that his is particularly sensitive,” Duheme said. “Going forward, I assure you that the (RCMP) will not schedule training or exercises in Colchester County around the anniversary. We will also approach this training … in Colchester County through a trauma-informed lens, and we will identify alternate times and locations.”
In a statement Hirtle posted online, the Liberal MP said the RCMP’s decision to schedule large-scale tactical exercises in Debert was “insensitive, tone-deaf and unacceptable.”
“Communities across Colchester County deserve peace and respect as we approach April 18th and 19th — a time when families, friends and neighbours carry the weight of tragedy that has changed us forever,” Hirtle’s statement says.
“I’ve heard directly from community members about the pain and anxiety that has been caused.”
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