Top Mountie apologizes for RCMP exercises in Debert before N.S. mass shooting anniversary

The Nova Scotia RCMP has apologized for training exercises held near the site of the 2020 mass shootings.

Canada’s top Mountie is apologizing for the RCMP’s decision to hold training exercises in Debert, N.S., just days before the sixth anniversary of the country’s worst mass shooting, which claimed the lives of 22 Nova Scotians in April 2020.

“Please accept my sincere apology for the harm and trauma this has caused you and your constituents,” said RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme in a letter to Cumberland-Colchester MP Alana Hirtle on Thursday.

“I know this is particularly sensitive given its proximity to the sixth anniversary of the tragic mass shooting in Nova Scotia.”

In a post on Facebook Monday, the RCMP said residents may notice an “increased police presence and noise” in the Debert area this week due to training exercises.

The post said the training would wrap up Friday morning, just one day before the anniversary of the mass shooting, which started the night of April 18, 2020.

The decision to hold training exercises in Debert — a community directly affected by the shooting — days before the anniversary has drawn the ire of some in the area, including the local MP.

“The fact that RCMP leadership scheduled large-scale tactical exercises in Debert during this same week was insensitive, tone-deaf, and unacceptable,” said Hirtle in a statement on Facebook Thursday night.

“I’ve heard directly from community members about the pain and anxiety that has been caused.”

Hirtle said she brought her objections to Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree and to RCMP leadership “at every level.” She said Duheme offered a full apology to the community and assured her it won’t happen again.

“I said apologizing to me is great, but I need that in writing,” Hirtle told CTV News Atlantic. “You need to put that in writing and send that to me so that I have your word that this won’t happen again in future.

“He did not hesitate.”

In his letter, Duheme promised the RCMP would not schedule training or exercises in Colchester County near the shooting anniversary again.

“We will also approach this training, and any other scheduled policing exercises in Colchester County, through a trauma-informed lens, and we will identify alternate times and locations,” he said.

CTV News Atlantic previously asked the Nova Scotia RCMP why it chose to hold training exercises in Debert this week.

“The hospitality centre in Debert accommodates the space and operational requirements for this mandatory tactical support group training, which prepares officers to protect Nova Scotians,” Cindy Bayers, the Nova Scotia RCMP’s director of strategic communications, said in an email on Tuesday.

“The training must be held in spring and fall annually.”

Bayers added the RCMP is grateful the hospitality centre has been available to them, however, “in consideration of the concerns raised, we’re committed to doing our best to find an alternate time or location for this training moving forward.”

Statement from N.S. premier ahead of anniversary

Premier Tim Houston issued a statement on Friday, acknowledging the sixth anniversary of the shooting, which he said, “stole the lives of innocent people in senseless acts of violence, and impacted countless others.”

Houston said flags will be lowered to half-mast at Province House and all provincial government buildings and institutions this weekend.

“I encourage citizens, businesses and community organizations that fly flags to join us,” said Houston.

“We continue to remember and honour the victims and survivors. May they feel the love and support of all Nova Scotians, today and every day.”

Houston noted his government is still working to implement the recommendations made by the Mass Casualty Commission, which led a two-year inquiry into the mass shooting.

22 Nova Scotians killed in April 2020

The gunman was dressed as a Mountie and driving a car that looked like an RCMP vehicle when he killed 13 people in the community of Portapique, N.S., and set fire to several homes the night of April 18, 2020.

Despite a police search, Gabriel Wortman left the Portapique area, located along the Bay of Fundy.

In the early-morning hours of April 19, 2020, Wortman parked his mock RCMP cruiser behind a welding shop in Debert, dumping some items there before taking off again.

He killed two women — Kristen Beaton, who was pregnant, and Heather O’Brien — in their cars in the Debert area that morning.

As the hours passed, he murdered another seven people across northern and central Nova Scotia before he was shot dead by two police officers at the Big Stop located along Highway 102 in Enfield, N.S.

These are the 22 victims of the mass shooting:

• Tom Bagley
• Kristen Beaton
• Greg and Jamie Blair
• Joy and Peter Bond
• Lillian Campbell
• Corrie Ellison
• Gina Goulet
• Dawn and Frank Gulenchyn
• Alanna Jenkins and Sean McLeod
• Lisa McCully
• Heather O’Brien
• Jolene Oliver, Aaron Tuck and Emily Tuck
• Const. Heidi Stevenson
• E. Joanne Thomas and John Zahl
• Joey Webber

With files from CTV News Atlantic’s Bill Dicks and Hafsa Arif

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