Committee monitoring responses to mass shooting inquiry getting new chairwoman

HALIFAX — A former lieutenant-governor of Nova Scotia has been appointed to lead the committee tracking how governments and the RCMP are responding to the inquiry into the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia.

The Nova Scotia and federal governments confirmed Tuesday that Myra Freeman will replace chairwoman Linda Lee Oland, whose one-year term ends May 31.

Freeman served as the province’s first female lieutenant-governor from 2000 to 2007, and her latest appointment is scheduled to conclude on Aug. 31, 2026, when the committee is expected to finish its work.

The role of the Progress Monitoring Committee is to monitor the implementation of the 130 recommendations from the final report of the Mass Casualty Commission, which was released on March 30, 2023.

Under Oland’s leadership, the committee developed its terms of reference, established its membership and on May 1 released a six-month update and monitoring plan.

The report did not offer any assessment of the progress made so far by the RCMP and the two levels of government, though it did include a list of actions taken.

At the time, Oland said the committee had recently developed a rating system to track progress or lack thereof, but the former judge with the Nova Scotia Court of Appeal said it wouldn’t be used until after the committee meets again with government and RCMP officials in June.

According to its mandate, the committee must provide public updates every six months.

On April 18-19, 2020, a gunman disguised as a Mountie killed 22 people across northern and central Nova Scotia before he was shot dead by two RCMP officers north of Halifax.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 28, 2024.

The Canadian Press