MCC Day 27 – Participants’ Boycott Continues, and Local District Commander Testifies (by Video)

The Mass Casualty Proceedings continued today from Truro, with testimony from Staff Sgt. Al Carroll, who was the District Commander for Colchester County at the time of the shootings. Outside of the facility where the proceedings were taking place, family members and supporters were protesting the Commission’s decision-making on witness accommodation requests for RCMP supervisors. This was day two of the boycott of proceedings by many of the family participants. Some were protesting outside of the proceedings venue, calling for changes to the Commission procedures to allow more fulsome participation (and specifically cross-examination) by participants and their lawyers. Staff Sgt. Carroll, along with two other staff sergeants (none of whom had direct experience with violence or exposure to scenes of violence during the events of the mass casualty) have been given permission to testify by video, with limits on cross-examination. Those protesting are justified in their criticisms of the Commission’s approach. Today’s testimony was a good demonstration of why the accommodation requests need not have been granted. Staff Sgt. Carroll testified for 3 ½ hours in the morning, then another hour in the afternoon, with no unscheduled breaks being requested by him, and he displayed no obvious signs of discomfort, nor certainly trauma. He displayed little emotion of any kind, or much energy, in his answers. The National Police Federation has requested accommodations previously for lower ranking officers. These had been rejected, and the officers thereafter also testified with no obvious signs of discomfort or trauma. All of this serves to undermine the credibility of both the NPF and the Commission.