Decision to call RCMP witnesses at Portapique inquiry greeted with mix of optimism, skepticism

The public inquiry looking into the April 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia has committed to calling witnesses but some lawyers for family members remain skeptical the process will give them enough time and opportunity to get answers.

The commissioners announced Wednesday that some front-line and senior RCMP officers, as well as the gunman's spouse, will be called to testify. This followed three days of arguments about whether 27 proposed witnesses were necessary.

First up on March 28 will be the only officers to enter the Portapique, N.S., subdivision for the first 90 minutes of the RCMP response, during which time they heard gunshots and discovered burning buildings. Constables Stuart Beselt, Aaron Patton and Adam Merchant will testify together under oath.

Michael Scott, who is one of the lawyers representing 14 families of people killed as well as nine others affected by the rampage, said he's "cautiously optimistic."

"We're in the hands of the commissioners to some extent. A lot of what we heard [Wednesday] were partial assurances that we will probably hear from the witnesses, but at a later date, an unspecified date," he said.

Tara Miller, who represents relatives of Kristen Beaton and Aaron Tuck, said while she welcomed the commission's commitment to live witnesses, it would have saved her clients the "anguish" of waiting had they gotten clarity on who would be testifying earlier.

The commission has repeatedly said it wants to streamline the process to avoid asking witnesses repetitive questions and retreading on material that can be summarized in the documents it is preparing about the different crime scenes, parts of the investigation and topics like public communication.

In announcing his decision, Chief Commissioner Michael MacDonald said sometimes information like radio transmissions can be more accurate than people's memories nearly two years after the fact, but he acknowledged first-hand accounts do have value.

"Creating space for hearing from people who were present who have now had the opportunity to reflect on their experience can provide important information on lessons we may all learn from their experience in order to form the basis of recommendations that are pragmatic and implementable to help prevent such things in the future," he said.

MacDonald said his takeaway from arguments made by lawyers for the families was "what they are really asking for is an understanding of why the first responders did what they did."

Learning more about the perspectives of the officers who went into Portapique on foot, for instance, could help the commission make recommendations for similar situations in rural settings, he said.

In announcing who would be testifying, MacDonald asked lawyers to submit their questions for specific witnesses by March 16, explaining that counsel for the commission will lead the probes based on a list of questions created "consultatively and collaboratively to the extent possible" in advance.

One of Scott's concerns remains his team's ability to directly question witnesses. He told reporters without the ability to ask follow-up questions, he's not confident the inquiry will get to the truth.

Miller said she also planned to continue to push for the ability to cross-examine witnesses.

"And ask them in our own voices with the necessary follow-up questions that inevitably organically flow from answers," she said.

Emily Hill, senior counsel for the commission, said that lawyers for participants will still be able to weigh in.

"If there are follow-up questions, participants have the opportunity to ask those questions," she told reporters. "But we do want to make sure we're presenting information in a way that's organized and comprehensive so we can move through all the material."

Worries about timeline

The inquiry is mandated to submit an interim report by May 1 and a final report by Nov. 1.

Proceedings are now on a break until March 28. So far, after six days of hearings — some of them partial — over two weeks, the commission has presented four of its foundational documents and had one technical witness, who spoke about the 911 system.

The inquiry still plans to introduce more than two dozen foundational documents, including in May a 200-page summary of the decisions RCMP commanders made. MacDonald said Wednesday that five senior officers will be called to testify at that point.

The plan is also to look at the emergency response team's actions that month.

Waiting to question senior officers worries Scott, who is concerned there could be a "bottleneck" of outstanding issues and not enough time to hear from everyone before the inquiry moves on to its later phases, which are meant to focus on understanding why things happened the way they did and on developing recommendations to prevent future tragedies.

"We won't have much opportunity to correct course. That's why we've been so adamant at this stage to be using the time we have and use it wisely instead of debating about whether we should hear from witnesses, let's just hear from some witnesses," he said.

Scott said despite their frustrations, his clients have instructed their legal team "to do everything that's in our power to keep this thing on the rails."

"We have to make this meaningful for them because they fought incredibly hard to get it," he said.