Deputy Commissioner Brian Brennan, who is responsible for contract and aboriginal policing with the RCMP, appears before the Mass Casualty Commission leading the investigation into the April 2020 massacre, in which a gunman killed 22 people across the province.
The webcast of Brennan’s testimony can be viewed here. The commission already interviewed Brennan in August, when he spoke about his impression of the April 28, 2020, phone call with RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and senior Nova Scotia Mounties and political members. Head of Ministry Darren Campbell’s notes from that day said Lukey was angry that the Nova Scotia team did not share details about the gunman’s firearms at a news conference. Campbell said Luki had “promised the Minister of Public Safety and the Office of the Premier” that the RCMP would release the details ahead of the Liberal government’s pending gun legislation, though Brennan told the committee he did not recall being told legislation during the call. Luckie told the Commission and a House of Commons committee that Bill Blair, then Public Safety Secretary, never directed or ordered her to reveal the makes and models of the weapons. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government did not put any “undue” pressure on the RCMP. Other senior RCMP leaders in Nova Scotia testified that they found Lucki’s tone disrespectful during that meeting and that they were offended by Lucki bringing up the gun legislation. Brennan testified Friday that Luckey told him she wanted to meet with leaders in Nova Scotia, that she wasn’t happy with how the news conference went and that she was frustrated with the flow of communication from the Nova Scotia RCMP. Deputy Commissioner Brian Brennan is testifying before the Mass Casualty Commission on Friday. (Mass Accident Commission) Brennan said he told Lucki it probably wasn’t the best time for such a meeting, since it was late morning in Nova Scotia and the team had just finished a press conference that it likely thought was successful. But Lucki pressed, and the meeting began just 15 minutes later, according to Brennan. After the meeting, Lee Bergerman, the assistant commissioner and commander of the Nova Scotia RCMP, called Brennan when he was driving home to say she was angry and frustrated with the meeting, that she wasn’t welcomed by the other senior leaders in the room and that the timing was inappropriate. Brennan said he did not inform Luki of the impact of the meeting, saying he “didn’t appreciate at the time how deeply the individuals were affected.” “It was one of those unfortunate things where when you can’t see the people you’re interacting with, you can’t read the body language, you can’t see how upset people are.” Brennan said in retrospect, if he had known how the meeting affected leadership on the ground in Nova Scotia, he would have informed Luckey. Lucki testified that there was a miscommunication with one of the members of her national RCMP communications staff who gave her the false impression that information about the weapons would be released through the April 28 press conference, and Lucki relayed this to Blair and prime minister. When details of the gun were not released, Luki told the House of Commons committee she was upset because, “I felt I had misinformed the minister and by extension the prime minister”. RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki testifies at the Mass Casualty Commission inquiry into the mass killings in rural Nova Scotia on April 18-19, 2020, in Halifax on Aug. 23. Gabriel Wortman, dressed as an RCMP officer and driving a replica police cruiser, killed 22 people. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press) But two hours before the April 28 news conference, Brennan learned from Lia Scanlan, the chief of strategic communications for the Nova Scotia RCMP at the time of the shooting, that Campbell “didn’t feel comfortable” publicly releasing the brand and the models during the press conference. . Brennan told the committee in his August interview that he would have told Luckey about this information because they worked down the hall from each other, but Luckey testified that she had no recollection of it happening — and if she had, she wouldn’t have. have they raised the issue at all on the call. On Friday, Brennan said hearing Lucki’s testimony on that question refreshed his memory and agreed that Lucki was working from home at the time in the early days of COVID-19 and didn’t inform her.

Brennan objected to the public release of the bulletin

Brennan also testified Friday that he did not want to be released a 2011 bulletin warning police agencies that the gunman, Gabriel Wortman, had guns and wanted to “kill a cop.” “My question was, to what end? What are we trying to articulate to the public about a bulletin that existed?” Brennan said. The bulletin came to light within the RCMP on April 19, 2020, when an Amherst police officer recognized the gunman’s name and dug up the alert in his email. A screenshot from a 2011 officer safety bulletin that contained a tip about the man who, nine years later, killed 22 people in rural Nova Scotia. (Truro Police Service) The RCMP didn’t address the bulletin until afterward CBC News published a story about that. CBC News obtained the document through a freedom of information request made to the Truro Police Service in May 2020. In fact, retired RCMP Superintendent Costa Dimopoulos, who came from New Brunswick right after the mass shooting, told the inquiry that the RCMP didn’t know the bulletin existed until this request was made. He said RCMP officials met with other police agencies, including Truro Police and Halifax Regional Police, to discuss the contents and possible release. Although he said the conversation turned into a “sore spot,” he took the position that the RCMP should have released the bulletin. “I had raised concerns with the Chief of Staff. [Chris] That skin, you know, if we don’t come up with something as a police community … that people might think we’re covering something up the street, which is, you know, further from the truth,” Dimopoulos said. He told the committee that he ended up briefing Brennan and another senior officer about the bulletin and his view on its release. Brennan confirmed during his testimony Friday that he was not in favor of releasing the information. “We do not, as a policing practice, provide information bulletins or information like this to the general public or public forum. It is for police use.” Brennan testified that he also expected that an investigation would eventually be requested and that the bulletin would be made public at that time.

RCMP relations with Halifax Regional Police

Jamie Van Wart, a lawyer for the Mass Casualty Commission, asked Brennan about an August 2021 request from RCMP Chief Supt. Janis Gray to move the entire team of RCMP officers working in an integrated unit with the Halifax Regional Police out of the HRP building in downtown Halifax. Brennan said he understood Gray’s request stemmed from the challenging working relationship between the RCMP and HRP. The committee heard about tensions between the two police forces following the response to the mass shooting. The issues of policing standards, special services, funding and the emergency alert system were also points of contention. “I remember we took the position that it wasn’t something we were going to entertain,” Brennan said. “Moving an entire area management team out of that environment is not productive of the expectations and responsibility and accountability that we have in that setting.” Brennan said he instructed Bergerman to try to resolve the issues underlying the request.

Brennan was also linked to the wellness fair

The inquest also heard that Brennan never told Luki that a basic wellness report had been completed for senior Nova Scotia RCMP officers and civilian staff. The final report by Quintet Consulting was completed in September 2021 and outlined how people felt about the underlying issues with the national leadership of the RCMP and the response to mass shootings. Lucki said she didn’t learn the report was completed until June, when she was preparing to visit Nova Scotia for the first time since the mass shooting to attend Const. Heidi Stevenson’s memorial service and a town hall with local Mounties. She testified that it was “deeply troubling” that she found out about the report so late and asked Brennan why it hadn’t been brought to her, but was told she had no idea how it fell through the cracks.