'Nobody's listening': N.S. resident in area affected by 2020 mass shooting frustrated by province's mental health plan
CTV
A long-time resident in a part of the province affected by the Nova Scotia 2020 mass shooting, says the province’s plan for enhanced mental health services is already falling short.
A long-time resident in a part of the province affected by the Nova Scotia 2020 mass shooting, says the province’s plan for enhanced mental health services is already falling short.
Shelly Tower has lived in Bass River for 33 years and says after the April 2020 tragedy began in Portapique a short distance away from her home, she and her husband sheltered in place, fearing for their lives.
She says she and other community members are still traumatized — something she believes has never been addressed.
“[The province] promised all this wonderful stuff this week, we knew nothing here in Bass River,” she says, her voice shaking.
Friday, the province’s minister in charge of Nova Scotia’s Office of Addictions and Mental Health, Brian Comer, announced $18 million in joint spending with Ottawa to go towards the mental health care needs of residents affected by the mass shooting three years ago.
The government’s plan was released just a few days before a May 1 deadline set by the Mass Casualty Commission, which recommended the province address what it called an existing “public health emergency” after it said the province’s mental health assistance had fallen short.
According to Comer, one new mental health outreach worker would go on the job in Truro, N.S., starting Monday, and a mobile health team would travel throughout Colchester, Cumberland, and Hants counties on Saturdays in May.
