Inquiry report singles out Heidi Stevenson for praise amid blunt criticism of RCMP

Acting Cpl. Heidi Stevenson is a notable exception to the criticism levelled at the RCMP in Nova Scotia following the events of April 2020, when 22 Nova Scotians were murdered, including the 49-year-old officer.

The Mass Casualty Commission, which investigated the causes and consequences of that deadly weekend, singled out Stevenson for praise in its final report.

The commission criticized how most RCMP officers rushed to pursue the gunman without clear planning after he escaped the area around Portapique, N.S., where his rampage began, driving a replica RCMP cruiser.

"In contrast, Acting Cpl. Heidi Stevenson's calm and team-oriented approach of ensuring that her members had key information, positioning them at strategic locations around Shubenacadie, and, when asked, sending two members to provide back up in Colchester County demonstrates Dr. [Bethan] Loftus's point that these attitudes are not universal among police officers," the commission noted in its final report, which was released last Thursday. 

Loftus, a criminologist who prepared an expert report for the commission, described police officers having "a preference for action and the lure of active crime fighting over other tasks."

Provided key information

The commission said RCMP did not appear to have a coherent plan for stopping the gunman. 

Stevenson was deploying officers along secondary roads between Truro and Halifax, making sure they were blocking possible routes into the city.

Stevenson ended up in a confrontation with the gunman in a traffic roundabout in Shubenacadie. Their two vehicles collided head-on and they exchanged gunfire.

She wounded him in the head, discharging most of the bullets in her handgun. He shot and killed her in return.

He then killed a passing motorist, Joey Webber, and took off in Webber's vehicle.

'Fond memories'

"She's our hero," retired RCMP Sgt. Joe Taplin said Monday.

"I just have the total, utmost respect for her; I think of her quite a bit, all the time."

Taplin and Stevenson were close friends, working together in the media relations office of the Nova Scotia RCMP.

Taplin has very fond memories of Stevenson.

"She was the type of person that when you were kind of down in the office, she'd come in and that laughter and smile would just bring you right back up," Taplin said.

"It wouldn't matter what type of day you were having, she's that type of personality that would just get it right and just bring you up from the lowest you could be low to a high."

RCMP held a full regimental funeral for Heidi Stevenson last June. She leaves behind a husband and two children.