Why a daughter who pushed for a public inquiry into the N.S. mass shooting is starting to regret it

Darcy Dobson lobbied hard for an inquiry into the Nova Scotia mass shootings that took the life of her mother nearly two years ago.

But with public proceedings about to begin, she's frustrated that it's still not clear whether she will be allowed to testify.

She is now accusing the commission overseeing the inquiry of not only "failing" the families of the 22 victims killed by a gunman across several rural communities, but also members of the public who want to better understand what happened, and why.

"We're 13 days away [from hearings] and have no idea what's happening," Dobson told CBC Wednesday.

Dobson's mother — nurse Heather O'Brien — was driving when she encountered the shooter, who was a stranger, on April 19, 2020.

At the time, she knew police had been responding to a situation in Portapique, about 25 kilometres away, but she was killed before police tweeted that their suspect was on the move driving a replica RCMP cruiser. 

Her loved ones later learned people identified the gunman by name to 911 operators and RCMP officers when they responded to reports of shootings the previous evening.

O'Brien's family has been adamant that she wouldn't have been on the road if the Mounties had shared more information earlier. Many other families and community members have questioned if the RCMP did enough to stop the shooter and warn the public.

Now a joint federal and provincial inquiry is examining what happened, how officials responded and how the people most affected were treated in the aftermath of the tragedy. Public proceedings, which were initially scheduled to start in October, are now set to begin Feb. 22 after two delays.

Dobson said she has hoped, and expected, to be able to share her family's perspective during the weeks of hearings now scheduled to run through May in hopes no one else will be killed in the same way.

"To have our voice heard, to have our experience shared with the world is important so people know this is what happened," she said. "This is our experience. This is our reality, and we have no idea if we even have a platform to do that."

The O'Brien family are participants in the inquiry. It means their lawyers have been in meetings with commission staff for months reviewing and giving feedback on some of the information gathered during the commission's own investigation.

It was shared on the condition that the specifics be kept confidential until documents are submitted as evidence during the inquiry.

The commission said it has shared tens of thousands of documents. They include witness interviews, investigative files, transcripts of 911 calls and security camera footage.