Relatives of N.S. mass shooting victims say their work has just begun

The brother of a man killed during a mass shooting in Nova Scotia almost three years ago says he’s keen to make sure recommendations from a public inquiry released Thursday are implemented.

“It’s great to have things move forward,” Scott McLeod told a news conference in Truro, N.S., a community about a 30-minute drive east of where the shooting started on the night of April 18, 2020. “There’s still a lot of stuff to be done with the recommendations … It’s going to give some sort of closure because this chapter is done.”

McLeod’s brother Sean was among 22 people who were fatally shot during a gunman’s 13-hour rampage through northern and central Nova Scotia. The killer, a 51-year-old denture-maker, was shot dead by two RCMP officers at a gas station north of Halifax on the morning of April 19, 2020.

Like his brother did, Scott works in the federal correctional system.

“I’m sure he’s happy with the fact that I’ve come forward to speak with people,” McLeod said when asked if he was thinking about his brother as the federal-provincial commission of inquiry released a final report that includes 130 recommendations to make Canadian communities safer.

Among the recommendations, the commission called for a committee to ensure the other recommendations are carried out. McLeod said he plans to be a member of that committee.

“To have this report and know that the families and the public have been heard is a fantastic thing,” he said.

“I see a lot of positives coming out of this.”

Sandra McCulloch, a lawyer who represents relatives of 14 victims, said her clients experienced a sense of relief when the seven-volume report was published.

“They’ve put so much energy and emotion into this process, they can begin to move on from this piece,” she said in an interview.

“There is a lot of content in there that is in line with concerns they had expressed, mainly about the RCMP’s response to the mass (shooting) and the way they were dealt with ... That’s the gut reaction.”

Still, McCulloch said her clients’ generally positive reaction to the report did not erase the hard feelings that surfaced early in the process when the commission was accused by some families of failing to ask tough questions because of its “trauma-informed” approach.

“There are answers that the commission left behind ... There are loose threads that they felt existed before, and those remain,” the lawyer said.

‘‘ There is a lot of content in there that is in line with concerns they had expressed, mainly about the RCMP’s response to the (shooting) and the way they were dealt with.