Shooting in NS: residents still need help two years later

Kim Burtona Justice Department official, reported that in the weeks following the mass shooting on April 18-19, 2020, the department had difficulty engaging people in the program, which offers counseling and other support services.

The challenge remains that many Nova Scotians and many Canadians we have yet to reach.said Ms. Burton.

Mrs. Burton explained that victims of crime are typically referred to the program as their cases progress through the criminal justice system.

But, in this case where the shooter was killed by police, the department needs to contact the affected communities in northern and central Nova Scotia.

About a month after the tragedy, the department set up service centers in four Nova Scotia communities: Portapique, Masstown, Shubenacadie at Wentworth.

At the time, I remembered that our clients were not knownhe says. We rely on another agency or self-referral.

Mrs. Burton added that Victim Services was contacted by someone seeking help earlier this week, and he said others are expected to do so in the coming months.

Some community members reached out in the last three months and said: I think I’m ready for help nowreported by Ms. Burton.

This may be the process of their healing, but some have said: I want to help the families and those most affected first.

Last month, the inquiry released an interim report saying many of the people and families most affected by the tragedy have not yet received the support they need.

For example, a comment card left at a Mass Loss Commission open house in the fall of 2021 said: We need grief and trauma counselors more than eversays the report.

This theme was repeated by many respondents in our online survey in February and March 2022. One respondent wrote: No one seemed to understand what we were going through. Our community desperately needs more mental health support. ‘

The commission urged government and non-government agencies to act quickly to provide additional support for mental health, trauma and bereavement.

Services have been extended

Dana Bowden |director of victim services at the Justice Department, the service centers were first built in two weeks, operating six days a week from 10 am to 7 pm

But the demand was so great that the centers remained open until August 2020, when the sites in Shubenacadie and Masstown need to close, because they are both in schools. The other two sites remained open two days a week until January 2021.

In Portapique, where 13 people were shot on the night of April 18, 2020, a caravan was set up next to the community center, where advice was available.

Christine Blair, mayor of the borough where most of the killings took place, pointed out that the lack of support in Colchester has developed for people still suffering from grief and trauma, which can lead to increased anxiety and mental illness.

We simply do not realize how widespread suffering is, and it still needs to be addressed.did he say.

Much has been done, and much more needs to be done.

Ms Blair added that a special team would go to the communities to offer support.

Tom TaggartMP for the constituency of Colchester North, which includes Portapique, added that the team’s approach is a good idea. But he stressed that more specific mental health services should also be offered.

It changed many lives foreverdirected by Mr. Taggart. It shouldn’t have happened at Portapique, but it happened, and it changed our whole lives, and we will never forget it.