Hon. Pierre-Hugues Boisvenu: Senator Gold, two days ago, I spoke to you about the public inquiry hearings that are under way on the Portapique shooting. We will be marking the sad second anniversary of this shooting two days from now. The lives of 22 innocent victims were lost, which caused a great deal of suffering to the families and the community of Portapique, in Nova Scotia.

I also asked you why the families had not been invited to participate in this inquiry concerning their loved ones, who were brutally killed. Why did the federal government ignore them?

Yesterday we heard on Radio-Canada’s ICI Nouvelle-Écosse station that not only is the Minister of Public Safety choosing to ignore them, but the RCMP is refusing to appear before the commission responsible for the public inquiry.

The lawyer for the union of RCMP officers confirmed to the commission that it will oppose testimony from officers involved in the events surrounding the tragedy out of fear of causing them trauma, when the victims’ families are the ones who are the most traumatized. What is more, this request to have the officers appear actually came from those families.

Senator Gold, the primary role of a law enforcement officer at the scene of a crime, who analyzed said scene, is to testify to the events in order to shed light on what happened during an inquiry.

Did Minister Mendicino intervene in the public inquiry to prevent the families from taking part? Will he prevent the RCMP officers from testifying?

Senator Boisvenu: Senator Gold, I would remind you that on May 22, 2020, just one month after this massacre, which was the worst in Canada’s history, Prime Minister Trudeau publicly stated that he would not commit to holding a public inquiry. All Canadians already knew that the inquiry would centre on many questions about how the RCMP managed this massacre, which took place over a period of 20 hours.

The Prime Minister urged the RCMP to conduct its investigation and mentioned that he was working closely with the Government of Nova Scotia to get answers.

Given that the Premier of Nova Scotia, Tim Houston, called on the commission to meet with the victims’ families and the union representing officers involved in the tragedy refuses to let them testify, how can the commission do its job properly without us believing that this inquiry is being manipulated by the government?