Canada_ (Commonwealth) _ Friends, neighbors, and family members of those killed in the mass shooting in Nova Scotia have been saying for years that the province failed them and that they are still dealing with a “public health emergency” due to unmet mental-health needs. The conclusion of the investigation has confirmed what they have been saying for years. The lengthy report from the Mass Casualty Commission, which was published last week, is critical of the situation in the counties of Colchester, Cumberland, and Hants in Nova Scotia.
We advocate for identification of this situation as a public health emergency given the long-term effects of unmet support requirements following mass violence, the commissioners stated. The provincial and federal governments were given until May 1, 2023, to jointly develop and fund a strategy to solve the problem. Among the report’s 130 recommendations, it serves as the first benchmark.
“The gap is there. Erin MacKinnon, a resident of Portapique, Newfoundland, said that there are long waitlists for psychiatrist appointments, free hospital mental health services, and other such services. “Going for assistance is incredibly difficult because you can’t get it, and I believe that’s a big problem, right?”
On April 18 and 19, 2020, the shooter went on a murdering spree that left 13 people dead. He started at Portapique by attacking his partner. The next day, while pretending to be an RCMP officer, he travelled south across the province and killed nine more people.
Despite the fact that support centers to help individuals get assistance were immediately established in communities like Portapique, Shubenacadie, Masstown, and Wentworth, locals and the relatives of victims testified to the inquiry that they simply received names of psychiatrists or other specialists. They would then learn that certain therapists weren’t accepting patients or that they would need to travel over an hour to Halifax in order to seek assistance.
According to the commissioners, a needs analysis cannot determine the “extent of unmet need.” According to MacKinnon, a neighbor by the name of Andrew MacDonald then knocked on her door with the notion of starting a local “build-up” effort to aid the neighborhood in moving forward.
Portapique has a new playground as a consequence, and construction is under underway on a new community center. Having a project to work on has been “therapeutic,” according to MacKinnon, and their organization just received funding to provide local mental-health programming.
