AMHERST, N.S. – Independent Cumberland North MLA Elizabeth Smith-McCrossin is thanking the Progress Monitoring Committee for completing its difficult three-year mandate and calling on the Houston government to carry its work forward with transparency, urgency and measurable results.
“Chair Myra Freeman, the family representatives, survivors, community members, subject-matter experts and everyone who contributed to this committee deserve our sincere gratitude,” said Smith-McCrossin. “Family members carried the memory of their loved ones into a process that was complex, technical and undoubtedly painful. Their courage ensured that the people whose lives were taken, and the communities that continue to live with the consequences, remained at the centre of this work.”
Over its three-year mandate, the Progress Monitoring Committee developed a monitoring framework, held 12 meetings, completed 34 assessment sessions and published three annual reports.
In her closing remarks, Freeman delivered an important message to government, stating “that accountability, transparency, building public trust, and building safer communities does not have an expiry date.”
“Those words must guide what happens next,” said Smith-McCrossin. “The committee has completed the mandate it was given, but the responsibility of government and the RCMP continues. The most meaningful way to thank the committee, and to honour the 22 men and women and the unborn child whose lives were taken, is to act on its findings.”
The Mass Casualty Commission issued 130 recommendations. During its mandate, the Progress Monitoring Committee formally assessed 90 unique recommendations. Forty recommendations were not formally assessed.
Governments and the RCMP provided written updates connected to all recommendations, but those updates were not subject to the same formal assessment and rating process. The final report also confirms that governments and the RCMP were permitted to focus their presentations on areas where they had the most meaningful progress to report.
“This is not a criticism of the committee,” said Smith-McCrossin. “It is a reason for the Premier to be precise about what the report does and does not establish. The areas formally assessed cannot be presented as a complete implementation scorecard for all 130 recommendations.”
The committee recognized meaningful progress in emergency alerting, emergency preparedness, RCMP operations, interagency cooperation and public accountability. Freeman also made clear that she could not be satisfied, that more progress is required across all areas and that families and communities will continue watching.
The report warns that government activity cannot automatically be equated with meaningful results. Committee members repeatedly questioned whether new policies, programs and frameworks had translated into improved safety, greater public trust or better experiences for affected communities.
“The Premier points to government initiatives and significant investments, but Nova Scotians also need evidence that this work is making people safer,” said Smith-McCrossin. “Announcements, advisory committees and frameworks are not outcomes.”
Recommendation C.14 is one example of the unfinished work.
The Mass Casualty Commission called on provincial governments to enact community safety and well-being legislation within one year. However, more than two years after that recommended deadline passed, Nova Scotia has not introduced the legislation or committed to doing so.
Instead, the Houston government is creating an advisory committee, developing a provincial framework and planning a pilot involving only three or four municipalities. The Progress Monitoring Committee rated Nova Scotia’s response to Recommendation C.14 only as “initiated.”
“The Commission called for a province-wide statutory framework supporting prevention, early intervention, rural participation and coordinated community safety planning,” said Smith-McCrossin. “After more than three years, the Houston government is still developing a limited pilot and using it to determine what might happen next.”
The final report also identifies limited progress on the effective use of police radios. The committee described a disconnect between the work underway and the realities of rural policing in Nova Scotia. It said more concrete progress should have been made given the importance of radio communications during the mass casualty and the time that has passed.
“Effective police communications, coordinated emergency responses and community safety planning are not administrative exercises,” said Smith-McCrossin. “They can determine whether people receive help when their lives are in danger.”
Smith-McCrossin is calling on the Houston government to maintain public reporting on all 130 recommendations, including the work completed, the work outstanding, expected completion dates and the measurable results being used to determine whether Nova Scotians are safer.
“The committee has given governments and the RCMP a strong foundation on which to build,” said Smith-McCrossin. “Its final report should not sit on a shelf or become the basis for a government victory lap. It must become a roadmap for the difficult work that remains.”
“As Myra Freeman reminded the government today, accountability, transparency, public trust and safer communities do not have an expiry date.”