N.S. shooting tragedy ‘happened for absolutely nothing’ if RCMP doesn’t learn: commissioner

The commissioner of the RCMP says the police service he oversees is different from the one that was denounced a year ago for failing to keep Nova Scotians safe during the worst mass shooting in modern Canadian history.

After a gunman killed 22 people, including a pregnant woman, in Nova Scotia in April of 2020, an inquiry was struck to examine how the tragedy could have unfolded. 

Almost exactly a year ago, the Mass Casualty Commission released its final report, which 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 and recommended Ottawa rethink how the RCMP operates.

On Wednesday, Commissioner Mike Duheme provided an update from Millbrook, N.S.  on the national police force’s response to the Mass Casualty Commission’s recommendations, promising “meaningful change.” 

“As an organization, if we don’t learn from this, this tragic incident happened for absolutely nothing … I don’t want that to happen,” Duheme told CBC News in an interview ahead of Wednesday’s announcement. 

“We want to prove to people that we can change as an organization.”

The federal-provincial public inquiry made 130 recommendations, more than half involved policing in Canada. 

The RCMP said it is focused on the 33 under its direct control. The force said it’s improving its overall approach to managing crises, including alerting the public, and has deployed software to track the locations of its officers out in the field.

In documents shared with the public on Wednesday, the RCMP said implementing those “represents a significant challenge for the RCMP, we do not feel it is impossible.”

“Police work doesn’t have a blueprint — we train our folks the best we can. But certain environments, or certain calls we go to, are so dynamic and fluid that members have to think on their feet,…