Lionel Desmond and Family in Nova Scotia, Jan 2017,
Desmond enquiry: Nova Scotia inquest into shooting tragedy facing complex challenges
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HALIFAX — Well-nigh v years after Afghanistan war veteran Lionel Desmond killed three family members and himself, an inquiry is expected to describe to a close side by side month in Nova Scotia with questions still lingering about what it tin accomplish.
Before the provincial fatality enquiry was approved by the province on December. 28, 2017, Nova Scotia's chief medical examiner, Matt Bowes, told so-justice minister Mark Furey it wasn't a good thought.
"Many of the issues surrounding these fatalities are within the sole jurisdiction of the federal government or are interconnected with areas of provincial jurisdiction," Bowes told Furey in a December. 1, 2017, letter submitted as testify at the enquiry. "A (provincial) inquiry รข€¦ cannot make recommendations about matters under federal jurisdiction."
At the time, Bowes recommended a joint federal-provincial research, saying Ottawa'southward stated willingness to co-operate with aprovincial inquirycould prove to be an empty promise. A Nova Scotia authorities spokeswoman later confirmed Furey had requested a articulation inquiry just was turned downwardly by Ottawa.
That left Bowes with little option only to call for a provincial enquiry and hope for the all-time.
Among other things, the provincial research has investigated the circumstances leading to killings in Upper Big Tracadie, Northward.S., on Jan. 3, 2017. On that day, Desmond entered his family'south domicile dressed in camouflaged clothing and shot his wife, Shanna, 31, their 10-year-daughter, Aaliyah, and his 52-year-old mother, Brenda, earlier turning the gun on himself.
The 33-year-old retired infantryman had been diagnosed with mail service-traumatic stress disorder in 2011 after completing a particularly violent tour in Afghanistan in 2007. He had besides been diagnosed with major depression, and later on tests indicated he may have had a traumatic brain injury.
Immediately after the triple murder-suicide, friends and family said Desmond did not go the assistance he needed from two federal entities — the Canadian Armed forces and Veterans Affairs Canada — as he tried to transition to civilian life in 2015-16.
On the first day of the enquiry'due south public hearings on Jan. 27, 2020, Bowes testified he was notwithstanding worried nearly the limited scope of the inquiry and its "potentially limited role" in getting data from Ottawa. 6 months later, with the enquiry on hold because of the COVID-19 pandemic, so-Nova Scotia premier Stephen McNeil said the inquiry was flawed because "it does not have the federal regime there every bit an equal partner."
Simply as the enquiry pressed on, something remarkable happened.
Every federal witness asked to bear witness did so. And every federal document sought past inquiry counsel was turned over without protest, except i — and fifty-fifty that report from Veterans Affairs was eventually scrutinized and made public.
Allen Murray, lead counsel for the inquiry, says the inquiry had the power to subpoena witnesses and order the release of documents, but that never happened.
"The federal regime has been very forthcoming," Murray said in a recent interview. "We learned a lot about (Desmond's) interaction with federal entities."
In all, the inquiry heard testimony from 70 witnesses during 45 days of hearings that were sidetracked past the pandemic for nearly a year.
Aside from investigating the circumstances of the 4 deaths and Desmond'due south interactions with provincial wellness and firearms officials, the research was tasked with determining whether he had access to mental health and domestic violence services. The inquiry also investigated whether health-care and social services providers were trained to recognize the symptoms of domestic violence.
To be sure, the research can't make whatever recommendations for change within areas of exclusive federal jurisdiction, which include the policies and procedures of the Canadian Military, Veterans Affairs and the RCMP. Still, Murray said the inquiry will accept some degree of latitude when it comes to dealing with the federal regime's part in the tragedy.
Some of the enquiry'due south terms of reference speak to the interaction between the 2 levels of government, including provincial administration of the federal firearms programme and provincial access to federal health records.
"The 2 levels of government are not watertight compartments," Murray said. "They interact."
That interaction is at the centre of the research.
The man presiding over the hearings, provincial courtroom Gauge Warren Zimmer, has on several occasions cited testimony indicating Desmond "fell through the cracks" after he left a treatment program for veterans at a Montreal infirmary in Baronial 2016 and returned dwelling house to Nova Scotia.
The inquiry has heard that during the next four months, a case manager from Veterans Diplomacy, Marie-Paule Doucette, was responsible for helping Desmond find provincial mental wellness services to aid him cope. But that process was beset by delays and bureaucratic snafus, leaving Desmond with no actual therapeutic treatment as his mental health declined.
During that crucial menstruum, Desmond sought help from 2 local hospitals in eastern Nova Scotia, simply the doctors he met were unable to become his federal health records, which clearly spelled out but how ill he was.
Lawyer Adam Rodgers, who represents Desmond's estate, said this cardinal finding should issue in recommendations for modify, despite the inquiry'south jurisdictional limitations.
"With articulation federal-provincial issues, like ensuring the transfer of medical records from the military machine to the provincial wellness authority, we tin stay inside provincial jurisdiction by recommending the health authority work with the military to develop a protocol for transfers," he said in a recent email.
And fifty-fifty if the inner workings of Veterans Affairs and the other federal entities are off limits to the enquiry's final recommendations, at that place's null stopping Zimmer from making observations about what he learned from the hearings, Rodgers said.
"For more than purely federal bug, like what appear to be unreasonably bureaucratic constraints placed on Veterans Diplomacy case managers, we may non be able to frame them equally recommendations," he said.
"Only nosotros definitely need to talk about Veterans Affairs. In his last written report, Approximate Zimmer is entitled to brand comments on these factors, and perhaps note them as contributing factors in this tragedy."
The research has been adjourned until Jan. 10, when time has been set bated to hear from other witnesses, just information technology's not articulate if that will happen. Concluding submissions from the participating lawyers are expected in late January or early February.
This report by The Canadian Press was offset published Dec. 29, 2021.
Source: https://nationalpost.com/pmn/news-pmn/canada-news-pmn/desmond-inquiry-nova-scotia-inquest-into-shooting-tragedy-facing-complex-challenges
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