RCMP union argues members should not be made to testify at N.S. shooting inquiry
Global News
The union that represents RCMP officers says its members shouldn't be made to give live testimony at the Nova Scotia shooting inquiry because it would be too traumatic.
RCMP officers who responded to the Nova Scotia shooting spree that left 22 people dead in April 2020 shouldn’t be made to give live testimony before the public inquiry tasked with investigating the killings, according to the union that represents them.
Nasha Nijhawan, a lawyer for the National Police Federation, which represents roughly 20,000 regular duty and reservist RCMP members across Canada, told the inquiry Wednesday that it’s required to take a “trauma-informed approach” to investigating the killings and that asking RCMP officers to testify would be contrary to its mandate.
“(The officers) wish to be helpful. In fact, they wish so much to be helpful that they may be willing to extend themselves beyond what is appropriate for their own wellness,” Nijhawan said.
“And so it would be our submission that you should not ask them to do too much, you should ask them to do what is necessary.”’
Nijhawan said the inquiry must also measure the usefulness of any RCMP testimony against the additional trauma testifying might cause.
“Of course, it would be best if everybody could explain in their own first-person voice what they experienced. But at what cost?” Nijhawan said.
“We should look at what evidence is already available, what questions must be asked of the members, and find ways to allow them to participate meaningfully in a trauma-informed way, which in our submission will not include live testimony”
Lawyers representing victims’ families countered these arguments, saying it’s essential that RCMP officers with important information about what happened during the killing spree testify. And if assessments are done to determine whether an officer is fit to testify, they should be done on an individual basis.
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