Lee Bergerman, retired assistant commissioner and commander of the Nova Scotia RCMP, testified Monday in Halifax before the Mass Casualty Commission that led the investigation into the April 18-19, 2020 shootings, when a gunman killed 22 people across the province. Bergerman said in her view, there were “misses” and breakdowns in communication during the response, later clarifying that it included radio communications between officers on the ground and those in command positions. He also said there were problems communicating with the public and there could have been better “streamlining” of messages coming from the RCMP. Bergerman also saw a lack of coordination where officers were stationed and said it would be helpful to have community members more involved with the command center to provide information on “unclear streets.” “Those are all things that I think we can learn from and I hope a lot of that comes out of this commission,” said Bergerman, who retired from the RCMP in October 2021. She was also asked about her thoughts on how the RCMP didn’t fully clear all crime scenes in Portapique, NS, until 19 hours after the shootings began, meaning some victims on Cobequid Court—a small street on the south end of community— was not discovered until the late afternoon of April 19. Bergerman said she doesn’t know why this happened and that she wasn’t involved in those decisions on the spot, but it was a “great event” where people tried their best. “Obviously, if it takes 19 hours to find a crime scene, it’s a failure to have the proper resources to do that,” Bergerman said. When asked about whether it would be helpful to have nearby municipal forces come in to help investigate Portapique, Bergerman said that could certainly be a “lesson.” Twenty-two people died on April 18 and 19, 2020. Top row from left: Gina Goulet, Dawn Gulensin, Jolene Oliver, Frank Gulensin, Sean McLeod, Alana 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) He also emphasized that some things were done very well, calling the efforts of the first RCMP officers on the ground in Portapique and the emergency response team “heroic.” A lawyer for the commission, counsel for the victims’ families, the police union and the federal Justice Department questioned Bergerman about various issues, including the morale of the highest ranks in the year since the tragedy. “There was a lot of burnout … we had a number of our key, senior people who were off duty sick and a lot of our commissioned officers were working three jobs,” Bergerman said. Bergerman said officers were coming to her to put succession plans in place for their roles so they could be transferred out of the province, so she turned to national RCMP headquarters in Ottawa for help.
The wellness report came from Ottawa: Bergerman
He said he had spoken to Deputy Commissioner Brian Brennan about concerns about the mental health of senior officers and asked for strategies to better support their needs. Brennan then went to RCMP human resources director Gail Johnson and they made the decision to commission an independent wellness assessment from Quintet Consulting, Bergerman said, which will look at factors that affect morale. Consultants interviewed 24 commissioned officers or civilian equivalents through the summer of 2021, according to a summary of the report released by the committee, including Bergerman. The final report was due in September 2021, but Bergerman said it did not address the issues she originally asked about. Instead, the report outlined how participants felt about underlying issues with RCMP leadership, policing partners in municipal forces, the response to the shooting, and criticism of Bergerman’s own performance. Commissioners Leanne Fitch, Michael MacDonald, chair, and Kim Stanton, left to right, look on as Lee Bergerman, right, former assistant commissioner and recently retired commander of the Nova Scotia RCMP, testifies. (The Canadian Press/Andrew Vaughan) “I was looking, ‘What strategies can we have to help people heal?’ We do team building, we go on retreats, we bring in psychologists, we bring in extra members to support the officers … that’s what I was looking for,” Bergerman said. He added that he asked for details on senior officer succession planning that were not part of the report, but that was “eventually done”. Although Bergerman said relations between the Nova Scotia RCMP and municipal forces were “good” before the mass shooting, things have deteriorated since then. It has become “popular” for people to distance themselves from the Mounties and some police chiefs have publicly criticized the RCMP, Bergerman said, and the RCMP’s push for policing standards across Nova Scotia has “caused a rift” between the Mounties, the provincial Ministry of Justice. and municipal forces. While Bergerman said the commission would have to ask a township leader why that gave them a problem, she suggested it could be because the standards come with specialized units like emergency response teams — which are “prohibitive for many municipalities.” . .” He added that municipal leaders were also upset by the RCMP’s move to start tracking expenses whenever police departments like Truro or Bridgewater call in special RCMP units they don’t have on their own forces. But Bergerman said the RCMP doesn’t charge municipalities for those services, just monitors to show the province where their money is going when they run a deficit.
The funding model for policing has been challenged
Bergerman suggested the Commission look at the policing funding model in Nova Scotia and how that plays into resources across Nova Scotia for both the RCMP and municipal forces. When asked if she agreed with senior officers’ comments from the wellness report about how the province has underfunded the RCMP for years, Bergerman said “generally, I would say yes.” Although Bergerman said the province often turned down funding requests outside of the regular budget, she understood it came down to “dollars and cents” and health care was a higher priority. The understaffing worsened after the mass shooting, Bergerman said, when many Mounties were injured and on leave. In the past year, he said the area with the most shootings has received six new officer positions, but that’s not enough. “It’s a vicious cycle … you don’t have enough resources, you use the resources you have overtime, and it’s not sustainable,” Bergerman said. Before her testimony, the committee interviewed Bergerman in early August. At the time, Bergerman said she only learned about the replica gunman’s car when she saw it on the news the morning of April 19. She said she was convinced one of the RCMP cruisers had been stolen, so she called Chief Supt. Chris Leather to ask if that was the case. “He confirmed that all of our police cars were registered,” Bergerman said. The photo had been sent to the RCMP by Halifax Regional Police around 7:30 a.m., but the photo wasn’t shared publicly until the Mounties posted a tweet about three hours later. Bergerman also said that regarding the commission’s recommendations, she would like to see “robust monitoring mechanisms” that could be monitored after the final report is delivered, possibly by lawyers or others involved with the commission. A family lawyer, Tara Miller, proposed an ongoing commission made up of street-level officers, senior RCMP officials and the public to ensure the inquest’s recommendations are not shelved. “I agree with that,” Bergerman said. Commissioners leading the investigation will question Bergerman on Tuesday before RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki takes the stand. Lucki has been embroiled in a political controversy for weeks after claims she was pressured to release specific information about the gunman’s firearms in the run-up to the Liberal government’s gun control legislation. The commission has set aside Tuesday and Wednesday for Luckey’s evidence, while Halifax Regional Police Chief Dan Kinsella will testify on Thursday.
