Firefighters say RCMP gunfire at N.S. fire hall caused lasting trauma

Volunteer firefighters Greg Muise and Darrell Currie have spent decades rushing into burning homes and never expected their most frightening experience would happen within the walls of their own fire hall at the hands of the RCMP.

On April 19, 2020, amid the manhunt for a shooter disguised as a Mountie who ended up killing 22 people in rural Nova Scotia, two RCMP officers pulled over at the Onslow Belmont Fire Brigade hall and started firing.

They had mistaken a municipal official in a safety vest standing beside an actual RCMP cruiser for their suspect, causing nearly $40,000 worth of damage to the rural station.

But the impact went far beyond a shattered sign and punctured siding.

Muise and Currie, the chief and deputy chief, assumed the actual gunman was outside and spent an hour with two other men huddled behind tables, fearing for their lives.

It wasn't until later that they learned the shooter had driven by their hall not long before the Mounties stopped there and that he was long gone when the gunfire erupted. The officers left without talking to the firefighters.   

In the nearly two years since, they have struggled with the lasting trauma. 

"It took part of my life.... I lost part of my life," Muise said Tuesday during public hearings for the mass shooting inquiry.

"The fire hall was like a second home to me.... I'm nervous every time I go there, not sure, not knowing what's going to happen next. It's a challenge." 

Muise and Currie attended the first day of the public proceedings for the commission in their uniforms. They were not swayed by the commissioners' assurances during opening remarks that the inquiry would be transparent and thorough.

"Those are words, and we've heard words for 15 months," Currie said in an interview.

"They post updates on the website, but nothing substantial has come out of that. So without seeing any actions, which we haven't seen at this point, I don't believe that anything is going to change."

Though they once hoped a public inquiry would shed light on their experience and how it could be prevented, the firefighters' confidence waned as more than a year passed without hearing from the Mass Casualty Commission.

They said they finally spoke to inquiry investigators earlier this month after their lawyers pushed the commission to reach out and after inquiry staff had already prepared a summary document detailing what happened at the fire hall.