Trudeau promises change as Ottawa reacts to N.S. mass shooting report

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised changes in the wake of the inquiry into the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia that left 22 people dead.

After listening to seven months of witness testimony and reviewing thousands of pages of documents, the Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) released its sprawling final report Thursday — 130 recommendations spanning more than 3,000 pages.

The report gave a scathing review of the RCMP for its failure to warn community members of the danger they were in, which deprived them of potentially life-saving information.

Trudeau was on hand in Truro, N.S. when the commission delivered its final report on Thursday. He told reporters that changes would be made but said the government would "digest" the recommendations first.

"There's no question there need to be changes and there will be," he said. "But we will take the time to get those right."

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino, who is responsible for the RCMP, echoed Trudeau's remarks.

"We're committed to strengthening oversight, to strengthening accountability, to strengthening transparency so that Canadians can have trust and confidence in the RCMP and all of their law enforcement institutions," he told a news conference, adding that the government would study the commission's recommendations "very carefully."

"My job as the minister of public safety is to hold the RCMP and law enforcement to account, to make sure we make the reforms that are necessary so that this kind of tragedy never happens again."

The report took aim at the RCMP's response to the crisis on almost every level. It called out a lack of preparation, a lack of communication and a lack of leadership — issues so important the commissioners are calling for a root-and-branch review of how the entire force operates. 

Out of 130 recommendations in the report, more than half are aimed at the RCMP and policing culture.

One of the higher-profile recommendations calls on the federal public safety minister to commission an independent review of the RCMP and to examine the force's approach to contract policing and its work with contract partners, such as the province of Nova Scotia.

The report also recommends that:

Conservative Nova Scotia MPs Rick Perkins, Stephen Ellis and Chris d'Entremont, along with Conservative Sen. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu, criticized the commission and the government's handling of the inquiry.

"From the outset, the main focus of the MCC's efforts should have been on the victims' families. It was very clear from the early stages that not only did families have minimal involvement in the process, but they would not be allowed to interview witnesses," they said in a media statement.