Hon. Mary Coyle: Senator Gold, as you know, today is a very sad anniversary for all Canadians. Three years ago today, Canada’s worst mass shooting occurred in my home province of Nova Scotia, senselessly ending the lives of 22 innocent people, including a highly competent and valued member of the RCMP, Heidi Stevenson, from my hometown of Antigonish.

You will recall that not long after the initial shock of that tragedy, several of us representing our province in this chamber called upon the provincial and federal governments to launch a full inquiry. The recommendations of that inquiry, recently published in the final report of the Mass Casualty Commission, call for substantive and systematic reform of the RCMP in order to prevent more of the kind of devastating tragedies that we witnessed in Nova Scotia in April 2020.

Of the commission’s 130 recommendations, over 60 were directed at the RCMP. The message from the commissioner says:

The future of the RCMP and of provincial policing requires focused re-evaluation. We need to rethink the role of the police in a wider ecosystem of public safety. . . .

The message goes on to say:

Most important, the RCMP must finally undergo the fundamental change called for in so many previous reports. . . .

In recognition of that imperative, Senator Harder has introduced his Senate inquiry on the role and mandate of the RCMP.

Senator Gold, could you tell us how and when the government plans to respond to the calls to action of the Mass Casualty Commission for major reforms of the RCMP? Concern has been raised that it’s unrealistic to expect the RCMP themselves to lead that reform.

Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Honourable senators, three years ago, on April 18 and 19, 2020, the community of Portapique, Nova Scotia, was forever marked by the brutal murder of 23 people, including an unborn child, by an individual disguised as an on-duty police officer. During a murderous rampage that continued over two long days, he targeted some of the victims, while others were chosen at random as they crossed his path.

This mass murder is the worst in Canadian history, and still today, all the families of the victims are left wondering what motivated this terrible tragedy and what should have been done to prevent it.

On March 30, 2023, in Truro, Nova Scotia, along with my colleague Stephen Ellis, the Member of Parliament for the riding where the tragedy occurred, as well as the families of the victims, Nova Scotia Premier Tim Houston, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and two of his ministers, I attended the tabling of the report of the Mass Casualty Commission, which was created to shed light on this terrible tragedy.

I had the privilege of talking to several of the victims’ loved ones; their pain and suffering, their anger, are still palpable. The victims’ families needed to be heard and comforted and I thought it was unacceptable that Prime Minister Trudeau barged into the room where the event was being held without saying a single word to the families, after having publicly declared three years ago that he would be there for them.

Three years after all these lives were taken so tragically, the victims’ families are still waiting for the federal government to be there for them. The only comment the Prime Minister made quickly to the media, following the tabling of the report, was, “We will take the time now to properly digest and understand the recommendations, and the conclusions.” To me and my colleague, meeting the families was our priority, and it is for them that I proudly wear this pin today to commemorate the memory of their murdered loved ones.

I’m still shocked to have learned from the victims’ families that, following the shooting, they had to cover their own costs for treatment and for grieving their loved ones or, for some, the costs related to moving because the murder occurred in their home. The families didn’t receive any help from the government, effectively victimizing them all over again.

Why was the federal government in such a hurry to quickly compensate people affected by Hurricane Fiona, which hit the Atlantic region, while abandoning the families of the victims of this mass shooting? It makes no sense; it’s unacceptable.

The victims’ families have shown great resilience, but they’re also realistic and pessimistic about what comes next. Although the families hold out some hope concerning the many recommendations in the report, especially those concerning domestic violence and the work of the RCMP, they have nevertheless raised several questions. Who will be responsible for following up on the recommendations? Who will evaluate the results stemming from the report?

Today, I want to thank the families for the poignant testimony they gave in the hope that their pain would be heard and understood. Unfortunately, for the past three years, the voices of the families have been stifled by the profound feeling that they’ve been abandoned by the government and that they haven’t been listened to, even here in Ottawa. It is my duty to have their voices heard in this place and all the way to the Prime Minister’s office.

Honourable senators, thank you for joining me in honouring the memory of the Portapique victims and ensuring that the voices of their families grow even louder, because they deserve to be heard. Thank you.

Senator Coyle: Senator Gold, we know that the tragedy in Nova Scotia began with the murderer violently assaulting and threatening his partner.

Several of the recommendations in the Mass Casualty Commission’s report focused on the flawed RCMP and governmental response to widespread intimate partner violence in Canada. Funding related to preventing and effectively intervening in gender-based violence has been inadequate for many years, and, for that reason, endangers women’s lives.

The report calls for the Government of Canada to declare gender-based violence an epidemic in Canada and provide long-term funding for services that have been long demonstrated to be effective in meeting the needs of women survivors of gender-based violence and that contribute to preventing gender-based violence.

Senator Gold, we know that the government has said that it’s very committed to ending gender-based violence and supporting its victims. Will the government accept the findings of the commission and move to declare gender-based violence an epidemic in Canada, and commit to providing long-term and, most importantly, sustained funding for effective services?