July 18, 2020
Minister Bill Blair, Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, Government of Canada
Minister David Lametti, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada
Minister Maryam Monsef, Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Rural Economic Development, Government of Canada
Minister Mark Furey, Attorney General and Minister of Justice, Government of Nova Scotia
Minister Kelly Regan, Minister responsible for the Advisory Council on the Status of Women Act, Government of Nova Scotia
Dear Ministers Blair, Lametti, Monsef, Furey and Regan,
On June 7th and on June 29th letters were sent by a number of Nova Scotian Senators to Ministers Blair and Furey regarding the pressing need to establish a joint federal/provincial, equally led, public inquiry into the recent Nova Scotia mass shootings and related events. Only a comprehensive, open and fully transparent process will be able to address the complexities of this massacre and answer the legitimate questions and concerns of Nova Scotians and Canadians. As of now, three months after the event, action on this has not been taken and there is no clear public explanation as to why.
We are expanding our call to action to include Ministers Lametti, Monsef and Regan to further highlight the importance of ensuring that a feminist lens is employed as part of this investigation so as to ensure that a fulsome picture of the events that led to this atrocity are understood and ultimately addressed.
We continue to urgently call for a fully open, transparent and comprehensive inquiry. Nova Scotians and Canadians need to know what happened or did not happen and what might be done to identify and act on the warning signs that might help to prevent such tragedies in the future.
The lack of an announcement of this inquiry is fueling speculation as to why it is not happening and that resulting innuendo and gossip puts the public’s trust in jeopardy — not only in those who strive their best to protect and serve, but also in those who are responsible for our public safety.
In closing, we, Senators from Nova Scotia are now joined by Senators from across Canada, to continue the call for urgent action on a joint public inquiry into the April mass shootings and related events.
Yours sincerely,
The honorable Margaret Dawn Anderson, senator
The honorable Wanda Thomas Bernard, senator
The honorable Robert Black, senator
The honorable Yvonne Boyer, senator
The honorable René Cormier, senator
The honorable Brent Cotter, senator
The honorable Mary Coyle, senator
The honorable Jean-Guy Dagenais, senator
The honorable Donna Dasko, senator
The honorable Colin Deacon, senator
The honorable Marty Deacon, senator
The honorable Tony Dean, senator
The honorable Pat Duncan, senator
The honorable Josée Forest-Niesing, senator
The honorable Brian Francis, senator
The honorable Rosa Galvez, senator
The honorable Stephen Greene, senator
The honorable Nancy Hartling, senator
The honorable Mobina Jaffer, senator
The honorable Judith Keating, senator
The honorable Stan Kutcher, senator
The honorable Francis Lankin, senator
The honorable Tony Loffreda, senator
The honorable Sandra Lovelace-Nicholas, senator The honorable Marie-Françoise Mégie, senator
The honorable Mary Jane McCallum, senator
The honorable Marilou McPhedran, senator The honorable Ratna Omidvar, senator
The honorable Kim Pate, senator
The honorable Dennis Patterson, senator
The honorable Mohamed-Iqbal Ravalia, senator
The honorable David Richards, senator
The honorable Pierrette Ringuette, senator The honorable Paula Simons, senator
The honorable Murray Sinclair, senator
The honorable Pamela Wallin, senator
The honorable Howard Wetston, senator
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Letter to the ministers attached.
