Canada announced Tuesday, July 28 the launch of a public inquiry into the worst massacre in its history, last April, in order to shed light on this tragedy and respond to requests from families who demanded more transparency.
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The Canadian government will conduct a " full public inquiry, " Public Safety Minister Bill Blair said, saying " Canadians deserve to know why such a tragedy could have happened ." " We have heard requests from families, survivors, officials and MPs in Nova Scotia for more transparency, " he added in a statement.
Disguised as a police officer and riding in a fake police car, Gabriel Wortman, a 51-year-old dental technician, had sown death on April 18 and 19 in a quiet region of Nova Scotia, in the east of the country, after a violent argument with his wife. He was shot dead by police after a manhunt lasting more than 12 hours, over approximately 150 km, during which he shot dead 22 people, including a policewoman, between Saturday evening and Sunday in the middle of the day.
Heavy criminal past
Before this tragedy, the shooter had a heavy criminal past, according to revelations from a media consortium that had access to federal police documents. For several years, Gabriel Wortman sold weapons and drugs that he brought from Maine, in the United States and hid in secret compartments arranged in several of his properties.
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Federal police had been criticized for using Twitter to warn the population of this rural area that a gunman was scouring the area. A public inquiry will give “ additional powers ” to the commissioners: they will be able to summon witnesses, compel them to appear and produce documents.
The government announced last week that it was launching an independent review to determine why the police took more than 12 hours to shoot the gunman. But several protests have taken place in recent days in Nova Scotia, supported by 37 senators, to call on the authorities to go further and launch a public inquiry.