YO Seamus Baby Re October 27, 2022 (day of the dump & a month after Heidi knew) CTV - July 10 2020 referral YOUR WISH WAS MY COMMAND
Pineo, Robert<RPineo@pattersonlaw.ca> | Thu, Dec 1, 2022 at 4:48 AM |
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Thank you for your email. Please note that I will be out of the office preparing for and conducting discovery examinations and Court Hearings, returning on Wednesday December 7, 2022. I will be checking my messages and will respond when time allows. If your matter is urgent, please email my paralegal, Cassandra Billard at cbillard@pattersonlaw.ca. | |
 Dancho, Raquel - M.P. | Thu, Dec 1, 2022 at 4:50 AM |
Rempel, Michelle - M.P.<Michelle.Rempel@parl.gc.ca> | Thu, Dec 1, 2022 at 4:50 AM | ||
| To: David Amos <david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com> | |||
| Premier of Ontario | Premier ministre de l’Ontario | Thu, Dec 1, 2022 at 4:49 AM |
David Amos<david.raymond.amos333@gmail.com> | Thu, Dec 1, 2022 at 4:48 AM |
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https://davidraymondamos3. Tuesday, 29 November 2022 Lisa Banfield is suing us all | |
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wPgu_i6AIh8&t=3275s&ab_channel=LittleGreyCells
Lisa Banfield is suing us all
https://www.halifaxexaminer.ca/mass-m...
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Lisa Banfield suing federal, provincial governments alleging ‘trumped up charge’ was designed to cover RCMP failure
Lisa Banfield testifies at the Mass Casualty Commission on Friday, July 15, 2022. Credit: THE CANADIAN PRESS/Andrew Vaughan
The common-law spouse of the Nova Scotia mass murderer is suing the federal and provincial governments, alleging the charge against her was an attempt to cover for the RCMP’s failures in April 2020.
The RCMP announced the charge against Lisa Banfield in December 2020, accusing her of transporting ammunition to the killer, who the Halifax Examiner refers to by his initials, GW. Those charges were withdrawn in July 2022 after Banfield testified at the Mass Casualty Commission.
Last month, Banfield’s lawyer, Moncton-based Brian Murphy, filed a notice of action in Amherst Supreme Court against the provincial and federal governments.
“The Plaintiff states, and the fact is, that the Nova Scotia RCMP instigated a baseless investigation into the Plaintiff’s involvement in the events of April 18-19, 2020 in an effort to draw attention away from the errors committed by the Nova Scotia RCMP in their response to the events of April 18-19, 2020,” Murphy wrote in the filing, dated Oct. 20.
“As a result of the RCMP’s baseless investigation, the Plaintiff was charged by the NSPPS on December 4, 2020. As a result of this malicious prosecution, the Plaintiff has suffered significant losses for which she claims general and special damages.”
None of the claims in the notice of action has been tested in court, and neither level of government has filed a defence.
Murphy argued in the statement that when federal Public Safety Minister Bill Blair and then-provincial Justice Minister and Attorney General Mark Furey announced a joint review (which later became an inquiry following public scrutiny), that “placed intense pressure on the Nova Scotia RCMP as it threatened to expose errors committed by” the Mounties on April 18-19 2020.
“The Plaintiff states that, in response to the announcement by Minister Blair and Attorney General Furey on July 23, 2020, though Assistant Commissioner [Lee Bergerman] publicly welcomed the joint inquiry, the RCMP began constructing charges against the Plaintiff in order to create the appearance that the Nova Scotia RCMP was accomplishing something.”
The Nova Scotia RCMP was “negligent” in its investigation, Murphy wrote, and it failed to notify Banfield that she was being investigated. Banfield gave interviews to police on April 20, April 28, and June 28, and performed a videotaped re-enactment of the night of the murders in October 2020. But on those occasions, Banfield wasn’t informed of her right to counsel.
“The Plaintiff retained counsel on April 20, 2020, who spoke to Staff Sergeant [Greg] Vardy and was assured that the Plaintiff was being viewed solely as a victim,” Murphy wrote.
Banfield only learned she was under investigation when the RCMP announced charges, Murphy wrote.
The Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service (NSPPS), along with the RCMP, Murphy alleges, “pursued a baseless and trumped up charge” against Banfield.
“The Plaintiff states, and the fact is that the NSPPS and the Nova Scotia RCMP, defamed the Plaintiff with their accusations that she had provided the Perpetrator with ammunition prior to the events of April 18-19, 2020. The Plaintiff states that such allegations were false, referred to the Plaintiff, and were published in a statement by Superintendent Campbell on the RCMP website on December 4, 2020,” Murphy wrote.
“These charges were unlawful, due to documented circumstances of coercive control and life-threatening violence over the entirety of their common law relationship. The Plaintiff states and the fact is, that the Defendants, the Nova Scotia RCMP and the NSPPS, ought to have known that these charges would cause injury to the Plaintiff.”
The RCMP and NSPPS’ actions, Murphy wrote, “were a blatant and callous disregard of the Plaintiff’s rights, and were offensive to the ordinary standards of decent conduct in the community.”
Banfield is seeking to-be-determined general, special, and punitive damages for “loss of reputation, quality of life, pain and suffering;” “loss of past income and loss of future earning capacity;” expenses; legal fees; and “cost of care.”
the Nova Scotia Mass Shooting
Dressed in a police officer’s uniform and driving a replica police cruiser 51 year old Gabriel Wortman left a trail of destruction across Nova Scotia that is now know as Canada’s worst act of mass murder.
In this ongoing series the many threads of this horrific story are explored.
the Nova Scotia Mass Shooting - Nov 27th, 2022 - Weekly Updates (with Paul Palango and Adam Rodgers)
This episode features guests Paul Palango and Adam Rodgers.
Our conversation covers;
the release the final submissions to the public inquiry, most specifically the list of recommendations presented by the national police Federation.
the matter of Gabriel Wortman's police radio
our many questions about who killed Corrie Ellison
the Nova Scotia Mass Shooting - Nov 6th, 2022 - Weekly Updates (with Paul Palango and Adam Rodgers)
This episode features guests Paul Palango and Adam Rodgers.
Our conversation covers;
the death of Portapique survivor and past Nighttime guest Leon Joudrey
the recently announced lawsuit Lisa Banfield filed against the RCMP for malicious prosecution
the Mass Casualty Commission's release of what many people are referring to as victim impact statements.
Spouse of N.S. gunman sues provincial, federal governments over 'malicious prosecution'
Lisa Banfield says her reputation, quality of life were damaged after accusation of helping gunman
The partner of the gunman who killed 22 people in the Nova Scotia mass shooting is suing the provincial and federal governments after she was accused of providing ammunition to Gabriel Wortman.
In her statement of claim, Lisa Banfield says her reputation and quality of life were damaged, and that she endured pain and suffering, loss of income, out-of-pocket expenses, legal fees and cost of care.
The statement of claim filed Oct. 21 doesn't list a dollar amount, but she is seeking damages in an amount to be determined by the Supreme Court of Nova Scotia.
In her statement of claim, Banfield alleges Nova Scotia RCMP were pressured to charge her by federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair and Nova Scotia Attorney General Mark Furey "as it threatened to expose errors committed by the Nova Scotia RCMP in their response to the events of April 18-19, 2020."
Banfield was charged Dec. 4, 2020, with providing the gunman with ammunition. On July 23, 2022, Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Services announced the charge against Banfield was being withdrawn after she completed restorative justice.
"As a result of this malicious prosecution, [Banfield] has suffered significant losses for which she claims general and special damages," the statement of claim said.
Banfield alleges the Nova Scotia RCMP "was negligent in the course of its investigation," and failed to inform her of her right to counsel throughout her recorded statements of April 19, 2020.
According to the statement of claim, Banfield got a lawyer who spoke to Staff Sgt. Greg Vardy and was "assured" she was being interviewed "solely as a victim."
"Nevertheless, neither Staff Sgt. Vardy, nor any member of the RCMP advised [Banfield] of her right to counsel during her subsequent interviews on April 20, April 28, or June 28, 2020, not before the recorded re-enactment which took place in late October 2020," the statement of claim said.
"As a result of this negligence, [Banfield] was wrongfully charged."
Banfield alleges RCMP and the Nova Scotia Public Prosecution Service should never have charged her.
"These charges were unlawful, due to documented circumstances of coercive control and life-threatening violence over the entirety of their common-law relationship," the statement of claim said.
Nova Scotia RCMP said they have not yet been served with Banfield's civil claim.
"With this in mind, we will not be responding to allegations in any such claim," the force told CBC News in an email.
Nova Scotia Justice Minister Brad Johns told CBC News on Thursday afternoon that his department had not yet seen the lawsuit and could not comment.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
CBC's Journalistic Standards and Practices
'Nobody intervened': Portapique resident dies after speaking out about mental health issues
Leon Joudrey lived through the April 2020 mass shooting, but struggled to move away from the area
A resident of Portapique, N.S., who survived the mass shooting that began in the small community in April 2020 has died suddenly after years of "hell" trying to move away from the area where many of his friends and neighbours were killed.
Leon Joudrey, 54, died Sunday, just weeks after he and Portapique residents, their loved ones and victims' families spoke with the Mass Casualty Commission leading the public inquiry into the massacre. A transcript of that group meeting was released by the inquiry Thursday.
Joudrey talked about how hard it was navigating the mental health system in the immediate aftermath of the shootings, where 13 of the 22 victims were from Portapique. He said an offer was made to set him up with a professional who would point him in the right direction, but he was "in no state of mind" to deal with that.
"When you're shaking every day and somebody tells you it'll be three weeks [for help], doesn't help you much," Joudrey told the commission. "It's like calling 911 and getting a recording."
The RCMP confirmed they were called to a home in Portapique on Sunday afternoon where a man was found dead. The death is not considered suspicious, and the case was turned over to the provincial medical examiner.
On social media, many people have been sharing an updated image of the ribbon representing the victims of the mass shooting. It originally bore the number 23 to represent 22 victims and an unborn child, but has been changed to 24 to include Joudrey — a man described in his obituary as a father and lover of the outdoors.
Gunman's spouse sought help from Joudrey
Joudrey was the person who Lisa Banfield, the gunman's spouse, ran to for help early on April 19, 2020. He told police and the inquiry that Banfield appeared at his door shaking and upset around 6 a.m. AT, saying she had spent the night in the woods after escaping the gunman.
He told the commission he'd spent most of the past two and a half years since the shootings away from his property, which he was struggling to sell, but "I didn't really have a spot to live; that was a little rough."
Mallory Colpitts, a former resident of Portapique who also lived through the massacre, was in the small group session with Joudrey and others in September.
Colpitts said she and Joudrey had similar struggles trying to get out of the area, and Joudrey told her about how he spent many months in a cabin in the woods rather than his Portapique home.
"He expressed to me that … although it was isolated, it still felt to be the better alternative than to remain there, you know, surrounded every day by those memories," Colpitts told CBC News.
Colpitts said she couch-surfed with friends and family for months before she managed to sell her home. The memory of hiding in her closet with a loaded gun in the early hours of April 19, not knowing if the killer would come to her next, haunts her.
Twenty-two
people died on April 18 and 19, 2020. Top row from left: Gina Goulet,
Dawn Gulenchyn, Jolene Oliver, Frank Gulenchyn, Sean McLeod, Alanna
Jenkins. Second row: John Zahl, Lisa McCully, Joey Webber, Heidi
Stevenson, Heather O'Brien and Jamie Blair. Third row from top: Kristen
Beaton, Lillian Campbell, Joanne Thomas, Peter Bond, Tom Bagley and Greg
Blair. Bottom row: Emily Tuck, Joy Bond, Corrie Ellison and Aaron Tuck.
(CBC)
When things fell through with the new house she had hoped to purchase, Colpitts said she found herself in a desperate situation with nowhere to stay amid the ongoing housing crisis in Nova Scotia.
She ended up staying for weeks in victim Lisa McCully's vacant home in Portapique, across the road from the mass shooter's burned-down property.
"You look outside and you can account and know that, OK, there was a deceased body here, and here, and here. Driving by burnt and torn-down properties," Colpitts said.
"You still had to see that day in and day out. I was just trying to survive at that point and get to the next step on my own."
Colpitts said she was lucky to have a psychologist and benefits in place through her job before the shootings. However, she said when she asked Victim Services for help getting a type of therapy her practitioner didn't offer, she never got a response.
She said for people like her and Joudrey, "no amount of psychotherapy" will help if their surroundings are constantly triggering.
Earlier this week, a friend texted her about Joudrey's death, which was the same way Colpitts found out about the killings in Portapique early on the morning of April 19, 2020.
"Nobody intervened. No one," Colpitts said. "I'm sad about his loss, and I hope it doesn't lead to nothing."
Mallory
Colpitts on the beach near her former home in Portapique, N.S. Colpitts
says more should have been done to help people in the community who did
not lose immediate family members. (Bumbleberry Photography)
Families of victims, residents echo concerns
Others in the commission meeting with Joudrey and Colpitts echoed issues getting help for their families.
Darrin Murphy attended on behalf of his older brother Bernie Murphy, a Portapique resident who died from health complications in December 2021 at age 53. Murphy said the tragedy greatly impacted his sibling, who'd been informed it would take up to nine months to get mental health support.
"When I seen him, I didn't recognize him .... he was not the same person we knew," Murphy told the commission.
His wife, Michelle Murphy, added: "I think the stress and everything contributed to his death."
The sister-in-law of victim Sean McLeod said the list of professionals they were handed by Victim Services to help McLeod's father was useless because no one was accepting new patients in their community.
McLeod's father was told he might have better luck in Halifax, but he decided against making the drive, said Charlyn McLeod.
In a statement, a spokesperson for Nova Scotia's Justice Department said "more could have been done."
"Victim Services makes every effort to keep the list updated, however we do not always know if counsellors are at capacity to take new cases unless they reach out to us," said Peter McLaughlin.
Joudrey struggled to sell Portapique home
Colpitts said she finally moved into her current home in Dartmouth about a year and a half ago, but Joudrey spoke to CTV Atlantic last week about how he was still stuck at his house in Portapique.
"Living here is a complete nightmare," Joudrey said on Oct. 26. "All I see is my friends that died, and fires, and SWAT teams and I don't even want to be here anymore … It's been hell."
Joudrey told CTV he was under financial strain as he had not been well enough to return to his forestry job, and his disability benefits would be ending in early 2023.
As a federal employee, Colpitts said she's in a similar situation and has been feeling pressure from her workplace to either return soon, retire or lose her job. She asked the commission to advocate for those impacted by the shooting to be exempt from internal policies that would cut off their benefits or force them back to work while they navigate finishing the inquiry and getting mental health support.
Colpitts is a former Portapique resident who now lives in Dartmouth, N.S. (Paul Morris )
Joudrey told the commission he was hospitalized at one point. Speaking to CTV, he said there was no followup until four months later despite his diagnosis of PTSD. Joudrey said he had since started seeing a psychiatrist and had just connected with a psychologist in the past month.
"I kind of fell through the cracks in the mental health system," he said.
The fact that the $6.2-million Stronger Together Nova Scotia Fund — public donations gathered by the Red Cross to help those impacted by the mass shooting — was not available to survivors like Joudrey and Colpitts felt like another closed door, Colpitts said.
Although she said the victims' families should take priority, the Red Cross should have taken others on a case-by-case basis and offered support for the handful of Portapique residents who survived that night and continue to suffer.
"I'm already dealing with survivor's guilt. I feel bad about asking for help," Colpitts said. "A little bit could have gone a long way."
Bill Lawlor of the Red Cross said all of the funds have now been spent or committed. Soon after the tragedy, he said the organization consulted with victims' families about how to distribute the money. They looked at how much had been raised and was expected to come in, and it was deemed a "necessity" that the funds only go to those who lost a family member.
"We certainly appreciate the impact was great throughout all of these communities where each specific tragedy or crime scene was," Lawlor said.
Brian Comer, the minister responsible for the Office of Addictions and Mental Health, said Tuesday he could not comment on Joudrey's death specifically. He said the massacre was a horrific event and that he "can't imagine what the community's going through."
"It's very sad," Comer said. "We're doing our very best to try to support them as best we can."
Brian
Comer, minister responsible for the Office of Mental Health and
Addictions, speaking to CBC News at Province House on Oct. 28, 2021. (Brian MacKay/CBC)
In response to Joudrey's comment that he went four months without hearing from professionals after being discharged from hospital, Comer said it would be "highly abnormal" for someone to go that long without a followup though he could not comment on specific cases.
When asked whether he was satisfied with the level of support offered to Portapique residents in the wake of the tragedy, Comer responded that "mental health needs are very complex" and resources were on the ground at the time including trauma-informed counselling and crisis intervention.
Extra support in Portapique
Nova Scotia Health provided extra services in Portapique this week to help people deal with news of Joudrey's death, and Comer said those would stay in place as needed.
Janah Fair, director of mental health and addictions in the northern health zone, said two social workers and three clinical therapists were in Bass River near Portapique to provide walk-in support starting Tuesday and would remain for at least the rest of the week. The services are being offered at the former Bass River United Baptist Church and West Colchester Community Health Centre.
Joudrey is seen in this file photo with his dogs from May 2020 near his home in Portapique. (Eric Woolliscroft/CBC)
Colpitts said she'd like the commission to make suggestions about how communities and systems can better help survivors who didn't lose a family member and might not qualify for certain support or donations.
"I hope it does lead to some meaningful recommendations about acknowledging, you know, displacement and forcing survivors to … remain in a place where they were traumatized," Colpitts said.
Joudrey's obituary said he was originally from Sheet Harbour, and a man at home in nature who loved spending his time in the woods, on the water fishing, or hunting. He will be deeply missed by his family, including two children, sister and mother, the obituary said, and the two dogs he "considered additional children."
Anyone struggling with mental health should call 911 in an emergency, or the Nova Scotia 24/7 toll-free crisis line at 1-888-429-8167.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
With files from Shaina Luck and Michael Gorman
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AO3WCEeBfrY&ab_channel=LittleGreyCells
Leon Joudrey: in his own words
59 Comments
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=14QjR6_25os&t=1s&ab_channel=LittleGreyCells
October 26 2022 - Leon appeals to Heidi & Canadians for support. God bless 24
October 27, 2022 (day of the dump & a month after Heidi knew) CTV - July 10 2020 referral
10 Comments
keep yer foot on the gas Seamus!
'Serious allegations' against municipal police force contained in RCMP document released by inquiry
The Mass Casualty Commission entered more than 2,000 documents into the public record Thursday, a month after the inquiry into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting ended public hearings.
“As you know, we have faced significant challenges with document disclosure in the course of our work,” said commission chair Michael MacDonald during a brief virtual hearing Thursday.
Among the thousands of pages, which are now public and will be placed on the inquiry’s website, is an RCMP Situation Report (SITREP), which contains explosive allegations made by RCMP officers against members of another police force.
The document is heavily redacted, but commission correspondence indicates the accusations were not related to the tragedy.
The SITREP indicates the claims were made to senior RCMP members during a detachment visit after the tragedy.
According to the report, “During the review process two persons (redacted) came forward and provided information alleging serious criminal behaviour being committed by (redacted)...."
The July 10, 2020 report says one of those witnesses claimed to have “text messages, as well as other notes in (redacted) possession to corroborate what (redacted) is claiming.” It indicates the information was provided “on record” and in one case was audio recorded.
The report also states, “there is significant detail provided by both witnesses of non-criminal behaviour in relation to Police Act violations..."
Michael Scott of Patterson Law, which represents many of the Nova Scotians most affected by the mass shooting, says the redactions take away relevant and necessary details.
“At the moment, I have no idea why they're being provided, if they're effectively blank documents,” he says.
“What everybody seems to agree on is that they're very serious allegations that require investigation and that no investigation was done.”
The transcript of a Commission interview with RCMP Chief Supt. Chris Leather, which was recorded behind closed doors on the final day of public proceedings, indicates the RCMP took the allegations seriously and asked the province’s police watchdog, the Serious Incident Response Team (SiRT), to investigate.
Leather told the commission that communications with SiRT’s director at the time, Felix Cacchione, indicated SiRT would look into the information provided by the RCMP.
But after much back-and-forth, Leather says the organization eventually decided not to conduct an official investigation.
“I wrote to the director myself Oct. 26,” Leather said. “And less than 20 minutes later he responded to me with the one-line position that SiRT would not be investigating.”
According to SiRT’s current interim director, John Scott, the municipal force that was the target of the allegations was the Truro Police Service.
Scott says, before taking on a formal investigation, SiRT investigators did some preliminary work on the case, including interviewing witnesses.
“To try to see if there was anything there of any substance whatsoever with this allegation of any type of criminality involved by a member of the Truro Police Service,” Scott told CTV News in a phone interview.
But Scott says those witness interviews led SiRT to conclude there was no evidence of any criminality.
“There was nothing to investigate,” he adds. “And it didn’t meet our mandate.”
During its public proceedings, the commission has heard evidence of tensions between the Nova Scotia RCMP and municipal forces in the province.
In May, Truro Police Chief Dave MacNeil criticized the national police force for failing to use a public alert during the mass shooting to warn the public.
Leather told the commission he was told that SiRT was under the impression the allegations could be tied to those tensions, “as it appears to be an ongoing dispute between the RCMP and (redacted) that a substantive offence is not clear.”
Lawyer Michael Scott says that information is relevant to his clients and their concerns about policing in Nova Scotia.
“It has everything to do with the mass casualty,” he says. “We’ve dedicated a remarkable amount of time dealing with how investigations proceed and the relationship between different policing agencies in Nova Scotia at the time.”
“And we’re bringing in issues of turf wars between different police agencies,” he says. “All of those things inform critical issues that the Mass Casualty Commission is going to have to address.”
As for why the name of the police department targeted in the allegations was redacted, commission lawyer Emily Hill wrote in a statement that, “
“… relationships between police agencies as well as the role of oversight bodies such as SiRT must be examined in order to understand and comment on policing in Nova Scotia….”
She continued, “However, the substance of the allegations set out in the July 2020 letter to SiRT does not relate to the mass casualty or the perpetrator and therefore the details of those allegations, including the identities of the witnesses and of the individuals and police agency who are the subject of the allegations are not requisite to the Commission’s work. In other words, it is the treatment of these allegations that is relevant to the Commission’s mandate. “
Why Nova Scotia's RCMP tactical team is 'shaking mad' 2 years after Portapique tragedy
Private messages between 2 senior RCMP employees show disdain for officers who asked for support
The WhatsApp messages were released by the Mass Casualty Commission this month. The commission is examining the circumstances surrounding the events of April 18-19, 2020, when a gunman killed 22 people during a 13-hour rampage in several Nova Scotia communities.
In the exchange, Supt. Robert Doyle complains to Kelly Sullivan, the employee and management relations officer, about how the tactical unit wanted to decompress together in the office for two weeks.
He made a crude suggestion the men wanted to sit around, doing nothing.
"This is all over their wanting to circle-jerk for two weeks and not getting their way," wrote Doyle, who was one of the highest ranking Mounties in Nova Scotia and the one who oversaw employee wellness.
Whatsapp exchange between Supt. Robert Doyle and employee and management relations officer Kelly Sullivan. (Mass Casualty Commission)
Cpl. Tim Mills was the response team's leader in April 2020. He retired six months later, frustrated by the internal fighting over this particular request.
"It just shows the lack of respect and the lack of trust they have in us to do our job." Mills told CBC in an interview. "It was like, 'They just want two weeks off to be lazy and do nothing at all.' That's their mindset."
The team had five full-time members and eight part-time officers at the time. As Mills and his former colleague Cpl. Trent Milton testified in May, they were upset because the full-time members were granted time together in the office, but the part-timers had to return to regular duty.
"Everyone wanted to work. But they just wanted time away from front-line policing — two weeks to decompress at headquarters," said Mills.
"That way, they're removed and let the dust settle a bit and then get back to work after they had enough time to decompress."
According to RCMP, all team members were granted two weeks of leave "once resource continuity planning was in place."
'They're shaking mad'
Now that the text exchanges have been released two-and-a-half-years later, simmering emotions have risen once again.
"From contact with current members, some did reach out to me. Again, it just brings up you know anger from before but also confirms what we believed," said Mills.
"A comment I've heard is they're shaking mad."
A screenshot from Whatsapp. (Mass Casualty Commission)
The text messages from Doyle also refer to how wives of team members were writing to the provincial justice minister, creating a "sh-t show."
Two of those letters were released by the inquiry, including one written by Jessica McKenna on April 29, 2020. She was a 17-year RCMP member at the time, and the wife of Andrew Ryan — a part-time member of Nova Scotia's emergency response team.
She shared her disappointment with the "tug-of-war" between her husband's team and management.
"Decisions on how to respond to these commands have caused rifts within the team as members are forced to choose how to react and with whom to ally," wrote McKenna in her letter. "The in-fighting amongst managers and the fact that no one with enough clout to get these guys two weeks of decompression has actually come forward to do so is an embarrassment."
Moncton reference
The newly released messages between Doyle and Sullivan also mention the fatal police shooting in Moncton in 2014. Officers were given two weeks off at the time.
"Given that they did that in Moncton, doesn't necessarily make it the correct response. I've never been one to have much faith in what's been done in Jittery J!!" said Doyle, referring to RCMP's J Division in New Brunswick.
An
armoured police vehicle with lights and sirens on is seen travelling
through the community of Great Village, N.S., about 10 minutes away from
Portapique. (Shaina Luck/CBC)
In a written statement, RCMP said it's working toward a "healthy, inclusive and modern RCMP."
"The text messages are reflective of a very challenging time for the Nova Scotia RCMP. All employees, whether directly or indirectly involved in dealing with this tragic event, were deeply affected by it," Cpl. Chris Marshall said in the statement.
"Even in the most difficult times, however, all communication should reflect the core values of the RCMP."
Lack of respect
Mireille Mortimer, a lawyer who specializes in workplace culture audits, said "messages like that say a lot about workplace culture."
"It really says that there's a lack of respect and understanding for mental health issues," Mortimer said. "But also more than that, it actually shows quite a disdain for anyone that expresses any type of mental health."
Mireille Mortimer is a lawyer who specializes in workplace culture audits based in Toronto. (Submitted by Mireille Mortimer)
In the case of the Nova Scotia team's request, documents released by the inquiry show the officers weren't immediately granted the request because it wasn't deemed medically necessary by psychologists.
Senior leaders later approved having the emergency response team together at headquarters, but that message was never passed along to the members.
"That was kind of a relatively, if I can say, a minor request," Mortimer said.
She suggests the solution comes down to intensive training at the very least.
"Whoever is in management that kind of has that sentiment, there are ways that you can try to address it," said Mortimer. "Sometimes employers just have to kind of change the actual individual, right?"
Doyle has since changed positions within the RCMP.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
the Nova Scotia Mass Shooting - Nov 13th, 2022 - Weekly Updates (with Paul Palango and Adam Rodgers)
This episode features guests Paul Palango and Adam Rodgers.
Our conversation covers;
recent photos of Gabriel Wortman wearing a wig?!?
a Chatelaine magazine article questioning the public discourse surrounding Lisa Banfield
the integrity of the SIRT investigations into the Onslow Fire Hall shooting and the Big Stop takedown of Wortman
Lisa Banfield Was Abused For Nearly 20 Years. Her Abuser Murdered 22 People. Why Is She On Trial?
An inquiry into Canada’s most deadly massacre in Nova Scotia examined the role of intimate partner violence in the killings. But should it also have looked deeper at the violence directed at Banfield after the mass murder?
(Photo: The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan)
EDITOR’S NOTE: This story contains descriptions of coercive control and violence.
Lisa Banfield spoke in a timid voice, raspy to start, describing the first time her common-law spouse attacked her. It was 2003, two years into her relationship with Gabriel Wortman, and the couple had a disagreement about staying the night at a party. Wortman was supposed to be the designated driver but had started drinking, so Banfield left the party without him. Wortman then tracked her down and erupted in anger. “I was driving, and he jumped in,” Banfield recalled. “And then he started smacking me in the face.”
She jumped out of the vehicle and ran toward the forest, a half-hour drive from their cottage in Portapique, N.S. Wortman dragged her out of the woods and continued to beat her until the lights of two passing all-terrains flashed in his face. Banfield broke up with Wortman after that night. But like most abusive relationships, it didn’t end there.
In April 2020, 17 years after that first attack, Wortman would become responsible for Canada’s worst mass killing, murdering 22 Nova Scotians over 13 hours before police shot and killed him. In July 2022, at a provincial-federal inquiry tasked with examining what gave rise to the killings, Banfield publicly recounted her relationship with Wortman for the first time since the massacre: that fateful first night of violence, the years of coercive control and abuse that followed and his final attack on her before committing mass murder.
The public, including loved ones of those killed during Wortman’s rampage, had waited more than two years to hear directly from Banfield, the woman who might hold answers to why her long-term spouse inexplicably murdered their family and friends. And though Banfield was also on the receiving end of Wortman’s violence, and had escaped the gunman herself before he went on his killing spree, many directed their ire toward her. The day of Banfield’s inquiry testimony—in a conference room at a downtown Halifax hotel—security was heightened, with metal detectors, a canine unit and tough-looking, plain-clothed cops with arms folded over their chests. Banfield looked straight at commission counsel Gillian Hnatiw, seemingly bracing herself against the hostility in the room. Despite her descriptions of the pain and abuse she endured, some people in attendance continued to disbelieve her and blame her for what transpired.
The day of Banfield’s appearance, a Halifax women’s shelter posted on social media, pleading with the public to avoid victim-blaming. “Not doing so prevents society from acknowledging and confronting misogyny and violence,” read the statement from Adsum for Women and Children. “Lisa Banfield is not responsible for the violent actions of the perpetrator committed in April 2020. Lisa is a survivor of decades of abuse and carries no blame.”
Still, the vitriolic comments flooded in. “She should carry half the blame and go to jail for the rest of her life,” one Facebook user wrote. “And I would be terrified to go out in public if I were her.” Another commenter wrote, “I hope she never has a good night’s rest again, walk in fear Lisa.”
That middle-of-the-road attack and the violence Banfield experienced at the hands of Wortman foreshadowed what he was capable of—something that, according to an expert report prepared for the commission, precedes the vast majority of all mass shootings. Yet, despite doing five lengthy interviews with the commission and four interviews with the RCMP, as well as submitting to a re-enactment video and undergoing a psychological assessment describing the assaults, threats, humiliation and intimidation she was subjected to by Wortman, some people have called into question her recollection of the night the attack started and have suggested she is somehow to blame. They’ve said she assisted Wortman by purchasing ammunition for him, something Banfield was criminally charged for following the attack. That she just wants to cash in on Wortman’s estate, which was left to her. That she was with him for the money. That she shouldn’t have stayed with him. That she should’ve done more to stop Wortman from committing the massacre the night it began.
The Mass Casualty Commission concluded proceedings in September 2022 and will submit a final report and recommendations next March. In addition to examining the cause, the commission will look at the response of police and the role of gender-based violence and intimate partner violence in the massacre. But should the inquiry also be looking deeper at the violence directed at Banfield after the mass murder?
***
Banfield was like Wortman’s “Barbie doll,” a woman he could manipulate to do whatever he wanted, the inquiry heard. He saw himself as the man of the house and he treated Banfield like a servant, according to a psychological assessment written by Dr. Peter Jaffe, director emeritus of the Centre for Research and Education on Violence Against Women and Children at Western University. The report describes the coercive control Banfield suffered in her relationship with Wortman. (That assessment is based on Banfield’s diary and police interviews with her and her siblings, ordered by Banfield’s lawyer James Lockyer after she was charged for providing Wortman with ammunition.) “After pulling her down the stairs and demanding she leave the house, he told her she could come back if she was willing to change her ways, because he was the captain of the ship. No one would ever tell him what to do,” it reads.
Banfield was under Wortman’s total control: She cooked and cleaned and waited on his every need, eventually quitting her job at a bank and working for him at his Dartmouth denturist office, making and polishing dentures. If Banfield didn’t behave as he wanted, Wortman would punish her by withholding her pay. Sometimes he threatened to cut Banfield off and throw her out. Sometimes he held a gun to her head. “He said he could blow off my head,” Banfield told the inquiry. (Despite multiple requests for interviews, Lisa Banfield did not speak to Chatelaine for this story.)
Wortman called Lisa his “trophy wife c-nt” and treated her like a “whore,” according to a description of his emotional abuse in Banfield’s psychological assessment. On Christmas Day in 2004, he raped her during a fight. Another time, during a vacation, Wortman said he would take pleasure in bashing her head into the wall and demanded she reimburse him the cost of the holiday. Throughout their relationship, he isolated Banfield from others and threatened to hurt her family, according to her sister Maureen Banfield; that worsened during the COVID-19 lockdown.
The night of the rampage, the couple was celebrating 19 years together, having drinks in their garage-style rec room, which they called the warehouse, near their sprawling waterfront Portapique log home. It’s where Wortman stored the decommissioned Ford Taurus police cars he had purchased in recent years, including one he had recreated to be a fully marked RCMP car. (At the time, it was legal to sell or possess police vehicle decals or equipment, though illegal to impersonate a police officer.) They were video-calling friends and described their plans to have a commitment ceremony. Banfield, upset by hearing one female friend say, “Don’t do it,” decided to leave. “I’m done,” she told Wortman and left to go home. But on the way to the cottage, she decided to go back and apologize. Wortman was too angry, so she left again. When Wortman arrived at the cottage, he ripped the blankets off of Banfield in bed. He yanked her by the hair onto the floor, kicked her and punched her. “Get dressed,” he demanded. Wortman shook gasoline all over the home, slipping as he pulled Banfield by her wrist out the door and toward the nearby ware- house. The log home exploded in flames. “It’s okay,” she pleaded with him, realizing the seriousness of his acts. “It’s not that bad.”
“It’s too late for that, Lisa,” she told the RCMP he said, ripping off her sneakers and dragging her by the hair. She squirmed out of her coat and raced into the darkness, trip- ping and falling. Wortman dragged her again, handcuffing her and firing his gun on the ground next to her when she resisted. “Get up,” she recalled him saying. “I’m not gonna tell ya again.”
“Please don’t do this,” Banfield pleaded. Wortman shot the ground again and threw her in the back of the mock RCMP car parked inside the warehouse. Fearful he would kill her, Banfield kicked at the car door. She reached around the Plexiglas divider and it slid open, wide enough to jump through.
Banfield escaped the car and ran across the road through the woods, branches clawing at her face and arms as gun- shots exploded in the distance. She dropped to her knees and crawled, tucking herself under a fallen tree. In the distance, she saw a home burst into flames and heard two men yelling, “What the fuck is going on?” She stayed silent, fearful her voice would draw Wortman, Banfield testified. She stood and started walking toward the voices to try to warn them of Wortman when she heard shots again. Then, silence. Banfield told the inquiry she feared every shadow was a shotgun. She pulled her face into her shirt and listened for footsteps. Then she heard a strange whistling. Was he trying to taunt her?
At daybreak, Banfield ran from the woods and sought help at a nearby home, where the homeowner called 911. After her escape, she would later learn, her spouse killed 22 people (including a pregnant woman), injured three others and set fire to more than a dozen properties and vehicles.
(Photo: The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan)
But during interviews with the RCMP and lawyers for some victims’ families, that homeowner questioned whether Banfield spent the night in the woods, fuelling conspiracy theories surrounding the tragedy. “I don’t know where she was but from what I seen, she didn’t spend all night in the woods,” Leon Joudrey told a podcast host. Joudrey also told the RCMP, without any evidence, that he suspected Banfield was involved in the shooting, and police should investigate her. (In October 2022, Joudrey died suddenly. He struggled with mental health issues in the aftermath of the massacre, and police say his death is not being treated as suspicious.)
In fact, Banfield had a fractured spine and ribs, bruises and scratches, and spent five nights in hospital following the attack, according to her medical records. (Banfield’s lawyer James Lockyer said he sympathizes with the victims’ families, but only conspiracy theorists believe she is responsible.)
Some of the blame directed at Banfield is related to the RCMP decision to charge her for allegedly transferring ammunition for a .22 rifle to Wortman prior to the shooting. Her brother and brother-in-law were also charged with purchasing the ammunition for Wortman, who didn’t own a firearm licence and would have required one to purchase ammo. The RCMP has said neither Banfield nor her family members had any knowledge of what Wortman would do with his illegal guns and the ammunition; he often stockpiled items, so it wasn’t out of the ordinary for him to collect the ammo. The charges against Banfield and her family members were later dismissed. In November 2022, Banfield sued both the provincial and federal governments over the charges, claiming damages to her quality of life and reputation due to the accusations of providing Wortman with ammunition.
Still, Erin Breen, a lawyer representing three sexual assault and justice groups—Avalon Sexual Assault Centre, Wellness Within and the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund—has said her clients were outraged when they learned Banfield was charged for what was essentially “survival behaviour.” “The real concern is that it would have a chilling effect on other survivors from going to police,” Breen told Chatelaine. “If people are afraid to come forward with their stories because they’re afraid they’re going to get charged, it’s a reason why they continue to keep the violence private.”
***
Victim-blaming is described as scrutinizing and questioning a victim about what they could’ve done to prevent an incident or behaviour, or how they might have invited it, according to an expert report prepared for the inquiry by professors Jude McCulloch and JaneMaree Maher of Australia’s Monash University. Victims are often seen as responsible for provoking violence. Banfield has become the scapegoat for Wortman’s crimes, Kaitlin Geiger-Bardswich of Women’s Shelters Canada told the inquiry. “She’s not responsible for the actions of her abusive partner. She’s not an extension of him, but because she survived, she has been scapegoated by a lot of different people, for reasons that people don’t understand, asking, ‘Why didn’t she leave?’ ‘Why didn’t she call the police?’” said Geiger-Bardwich.
A small sample of this scapegoating is visible on the Facebook groups that discuss the mass shooting. “Any decent human being would have tried to stop Wortman, not ‘hide in the woods’ for eight hours . . . If she truly was a victim of domestic violence she would’ve died,” wrote one user. “She a victim? Not in my opinion,” wrote another user. “She’s as guilty as he was,” wrote another, who chastised Banfield for retaining a lawyer. One commenter even threatened to come after anyone who defended Banfield: “The next time I’m in Nova Scotia I’ll give you my location, come down and defend her in front of me. Let’s see what happens.”
At the inquiry, family members of victims and lawyers representing them walked out in protest of the commissioners’ decision to remove the ability to cross-examine Banfield. (When reached by Chatelaine, lawyers representing victims’ family members declined to comment for this story.)
Even the RCMP used harmful victim-blaming language after the mass shooting, describing the attack on Banfield as “a catalyst” for the massacre. This, an expert report noted, suggests that she caused or provoked the violence, which “implicitly mutualizes the violence by suggesting that there is a problem between the man and the woman.”
It’s not just in this case, either. “Studies on lone-actor terrorism consider the targeting of specific women in such attacks as ‘trigger events’ rather than as part of the events themselves, even when the circumstances often indicate that the ‘trigger’ and the mass casualty attack are continuous or proximate in time,” reads the report.
Much of the victim-blaming has centred on the fact that Banfield hid in the woods that night. But according to a psychological report submitted to the inquiry, Banfield blames herself for the violence and for staying in a relationship with Wortman. She has wondered if she should’ve allowed herself to be killed to spare the lives lost in the mass shooting.
At the inquiry, Banfield said she understands where the community anger stems from. But she says it’s misdirected. “Our family feels for all those people, and we’re not angry that they’re angry, because if it was my family, I would feel the same way,” she said. “But . . . he did this, and I didn’t. And I would never contribute to anything like that.”
When asked if she could think of any reason Wortman would target the victims in Portapique, Banfield told the inquiry that perhaps he went looking for her after she escaped. “If I didn’t get out of that car, I often think, ‘Would any of those people have died?’” Banfield testified, breaking down. “That’s something that haunts me all the time. I feel they weren’t targeted. He was looking for me in the beginning.”
“Oh, come on!” a man in attendance heckled. No one reacted. Commission counsel continued to speak in a soft voice. Neither the commissioner nor security appeared to lift an eyebrow.
***
In a psychological report presented as evidence at the inquiry, using an assessment tool from the Ontario Domestic Violence Death Review Committee, Dr. Jaffe found Banfield was in a high-risk relationship for domestic homicide without a safety plan, and she has since been diagnosed with severe post-traumatic stress disorder. Wortman’s abuse featured a pattern of coercive control that was designed to humiliate, dominate and frighten her into compliance. He isolated her and limited her ability to leave the home.
Banfield’s psychological report also details that she did not leave out of fear, dependency, control, love and hope that she could help Wortman overcome his abusive childhood. “Over time she lost contact with the reality of how destructive the relationship had become,” reads the report. She didn’t fight, flight or freeze in response to threats. Instead, she had a fawn response: people-pleasing to the extent that she disconnected. She seemed to believe that if she could get him to feel her support and love, he would stop abusing her.
At the inquiry, commission counsel asked Banfield if more community support could have made a difference in her ability to seek help or leave the relationship. “No,” said Banfield matter-of-factly. “He threatened my family.” She added that while she alone might have been able to hide or seek help, her family members couldn’t. “I couldn’t take the risk knowing that he could come after any of my family.”
Yet the feeling in the room remained one of disbelief, says Kristina Fifield, a sexual assault trauma therapist at Halifax’s Avalon Sexual Assault Centre. “That, to me, is the largest problem here,” she says. “Sitting in the room that day, people were questioning, blaming and saying she’s lying, and that has been seen through all of our systems and institutions. Change is necessary, and it needs immediate action.”
This disbelief, she adds, may even cause more harm, discouraging and silencing other victims and survivors. “When victim-blaming is happening, it’s further isolating other victims from coming forward, because they’re seeing this on a very public scale.”
While the overwhelming majority of men who commit gender-based violence never commit mass casualty attacks, the men who do commit mass casualty attacks very often commit gender-based violence, and women, particularly intimate partners, are frequently the first victims of those at- tacks, according to McCulloch and Maher’s report commissioned for the inquiry. “Familicide is the most common type of mass casualty attack, with perpetrators being mainly husbands and fathers and the victims being intimate partners, children and other relatives,” reads the report.
But it’s only recently that the connection between gender-based violence and mass shootings has been made. That’s because gender-based violence, particularly domestic and family violence, has long been considered a form of private violence, while mass casualty attacks are located squarely in the frame of public violence—a long-standing division grounded in patriarchal society, according to the report.
“Right up until recent times, it has been considered part of a relationship between a man and a woman that this is normalized, it happens behind closed doors,” lawyer Erin Breen tells Chatelaine. But the abuse of Banfield did not happen solely behind closed doors, she adds. “It happened on public roads. It happened at parties. It happened in front of grown men who failed to intervene out of fear.”
Maybe it’s also why police, after being notified of domes- tic violence complaints, weapons complaints and threats Wortman made to kill his parents, failed to investigate in any significant way. This was likely due to Wortman’s power and privilege, says Breen. He was a business owner, collected motorcycles and owned a palatial waterfront log home, which elevated him in the modest rural community. It was this power and privilege that allowed a continuum of violence to occur, Fifield told the inquiry.
Wortman also preyed on vulnerable, marginalized and racialized women, exchanging work for sex with African Nova Scotian women and sex workers for many years at his denturist clinics in Halifax and Dartmouth, acknowledges a report submitted to the inquiry by members of the Avalon Sexual Assault Centre. Victims didn’t report it because of previous experiences in which marginalized people were not believed.
Banfield’s lawyer Jessica Zita was one of eight participants to share recommendations for commissioners. She advocated for more training for officers to recognize intimate partner violence. She also castigated the RCMP for the “careless and calculated” investigation into Banfield and their decision to charge her criminally.
The dynamics of gender-based violence, Zita says, lay at the core of the mass shooting. “To come face to face with such vulnerability and feign sensitivity to further an ulterior motive is manipulative,” said Zita. “And, dare I say, abusive.”
***
Wortman left an infinite trail of grief, a long list of victims and their families who are rightly angry. But Banfield’s treatment by some of the community and our institutions mirrors the violence she faced: People still blame her for Wortman’s violence. Her advocates say the RCMP revictimized her by charging her. And though Wortman is dead, Banfield still fears for her life.
Banfield’s psychological assessment states that she is unemployed and under psychiatric care. At age 53, she is living with her sisters and niece. At the inquiry, she admitted she is fearful walking down the street: “I feel like somebody could attack me or come at me and my family.”
Once her testimony wrapped up, Banfield lingered for not an extra second. She stepped down a set of short stairs, her sisters moving in tandem behind her like bodyguards, toward a private exit, out of the public eye.
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