How Portapique residents past and present are dealing with reminders of the 2020 mass shooting

The eve of the release of the final report from the inquiry into Nova Scotia’s 2020 mass shooting is a reminder for residents of Portapique of their small community’s traumatic past.

The eve of the release of the final report from the inquiry into Nova Scotia’s 2020 mass shooting is a reminder for residents of Portapique of their small community’s traumatic past.

It was in the rural, wooded neighborhood on and around Portapique Beach Road where gunman Gabriel Wortman began his murderous rampage, killing 13 people on the evening of April 18, 2020.

But as the killer’s former property, now owned by the province, becomes overgrown into obscurity with brush, community members who remain are working to rebuild their future down the road on Portapique Loop.

“We know if you Google ‘Portapique’ you're going to see all sorts of negative media stories,” says resident Andrew MacDonald, “and our goal is to change that so when you Google ‘Portapique,’ you see stories like this.”

MacDonald is one of a handful of Nova Scotians who survived their encounter with Wortman that weekend. MacDonald was shot by the gunman the first night of the killings, after Wortman pulled alongside MacDonald’s vehicle with his replica RCMP cruiser.

But instead of talking about that, MacDonald is focusing on his latest project – the construction of a new community hall.

The hall, expected to be completed this fall, is right next to the playground MacDonald also helped build for the community and its residents, with help from partners such as the Rotary Club of Truro.