HALIFAX-
A former Supreme Court of Canada justice investigating the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia has said he is concerned the federal Justice Department may have discouraged witnesses from providing relevant evidence.
In an August 5 letter to the department, released late Monday by the Inquiry, Director of Commission Counsel Thomas Cromwell cites advice the department gave to the Chief Superintendent of the Nova Scotia RCMP. . Chris Leather before testifying before the Board of Inquiry on July 28.
Cromwell said he was “deeply concerned” by Leather’s claim that he had been advised “to just be reactive rather than outspoken”, an approach which Cromwell said “will prevent the commission from fulfilling its mandate. “.
The former judge asked the department for assurances that such advice has not been and will not be given to other witnesses.
“On the contrary, I hope and expect witnesses to be encouraged to share relevant information that they have,” Cromwell said.
On July 28, Leather testified that in an earlier interview with commission attorneys, he said nothing about emails or phone calls related to an April 28, 2020 meeting he attended with the Commission. RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki because Justice Department lawyers suggested she take “a reactive stance.”
Leather said he was advised not to proactively disclose any prior conversations or correspondence with Lucki.
The April 28 teleconference, led by Lucki, focused on the effectiveness of RCMP news conferences in Nova Scotia in the days following the shooting death of a man disguised as a constable out of 22 people in the north and Central Nova Scotia April 18-19, 2020.
Meeting notes taken by another Nova Scotia constable, Supt. Darren Campbell, claim Lucki said she promised then-Public Safety Minister Bill Blair that the RCMP would release details of the killer’s weapons to lend weight to ongoing enforcement legislation Liberal government firearms.
The bombshell claim sparked allegations of political interference in a police investigation, an allegation that is being investigated by a parliamentary committee in Ottawa.
In response to Cromwell’s letter, Justice Department general counsel Lori Ward said department attorneys had not discouraged Leather from being available. Ward’s letter, dated Aug. 9, 2022, says Leather’s comments about what he was told “can only be the result of a misunderstanding.”
“The attorney did not provide such advice,” Ward said.
Still, Ward’s letter confirms that at one point Leather was told not to say anything about an unrelated workplace assessment in 2021 because it might not be relevant or might be inside information.
“We suggested that he not increase the rating,” Ward said in the letter. “However, we said that if he was asked a question that would require him to discuss it, to answer honestly.”
On Tuesday, Justice Department Deputy Minister Francois Daigle confirmed that department lawyers told Leather to answer questions about the assessment only if he was asked about it — and not to. talk about himself – because they hadn’t seen the report themselves.
Testifying before the House of Commons Public Safety Committee, Daigle was asked why the four pages of Campbell’s handwritten notes – containing details of the April 28, 2020 meeting with Lucki – were withheld from the public inquiry .
The Justice Department admitted it should have alerted the commission when it withheld 35 pages of notes from seven senior officers, including Campbell’s four pages, when it leaked two packages of documents containing 2,400 pages on February 11, 2022 and March 2, 2022.
“We acknowledge that the commission was not advised that these pages were subject to a confidentiality review,” the ministry said in a letter to the commission dated June 24, 2022. “Counsel (for the ministry of Justice) should have done so.”
The letter goes on to say that the department is not aware of any other documents that may have been withheld.
Daigle told MPs the documents were “catched up” in the 35 pages that were being reviewed for possible privilege, although he did not say what prompted the review. He said it was unfortunate that the Mass Casualty Commission was not notified that pages were being withheld. “The oversight was recognized and understood,” he said.
As of June 24, all but three of these removed pages had been investigated.
With files from Michael MacDonald and Sarah Ritchie.
This report from The Canadian Press was first published on August 16, 2022.
This story was produced with the financial assistance of Meta and the Canadian Press News Fellowship.