16 people selected to make sure recommendations from Portapique inquiry aren't ignored

The federal and Nova Scotia governments have released the names of 16 people who will serve on the progress monitoring committee responsible for making sure the findings of the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) don't fall by the wayside.

The commission recommended the creation of the accountability body when it handed down its final report in March. It looked into the causes and lessons learned from the April 2020 murders of 22 Nova Scotians killed in a deadly rampage over one weekend.

Retired Nova Scotia Court of Appeal Justice Linda Lee Oland was appointed chair of the committee in May. According to a release issued Friday, Oland has spent the time since her appointment conferring with groups and individuals to see who would be best suited to the oversight role.

The appointments include seven people who lost family members on the weekend of April 18-19, 2020. They are:

• Dan Jenkins.
• Crystal Mendiuk.
• Charlene Bagley.
• Scott McLeod.
• Jennifer Zahi Bruland.
• David Burkholder.
• Tammy Oliver-McCurdie.

The MCC had recommended that two family members be included on this committee. But so many people expressed interest in taking part, that they will be rotated through in one-year terms.

Alison Whelon, senior assistant deputy minister of reform, accountability and culture for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, is the lone RCMP member on the committee.

The RCMP was the lead police force hunting the gunman that weekend and it has come under serious criticism in the aftermath of the killings.

Others on the committee include:

Simon Coakeley, vice-chairperson and member of the management advisory board.

Christine Blair, mayor of Colchester County, is a municipal representative.

Chief Mark Kane of the Annapolis Royal Police Service will provide outside police representation.

The federal government is represented by Talal Dakalbab, senior assistant deputy minister of Public Safety Canada's crime prevention branch.

The provincial government representative is Jennifer Glennie, associate deputy minister of the executive council office.

Kristina Fifield, a trauma therapist with the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre is also a member, representing the gender-based violence support and advocacy sector. 

The Indigenous community is represented by lawyer Tuma Young and the African Canadian representative is Vanessa Fells.

The news release announcing the names of committee members said they will hold a first meeting in Halifax soon.