MCC Day 37 – Service Providers and Colchester Political Leaders

The MCC’s short week of proceedings continued and concluded today with two further ‘small group’ sessions. The morning session featured service providers from Victim’s Services, the Medical Examiners office, and a funeral director. In the afternoon session, we heard from MLA Tom Taggart, and Mayor Christine Blair. It is in the mandate of the MCC to look at the services that were available and provided to victims, their families, and the community, and so it was necessary in a way to hear from these individuals. I suspect the audience numbers for today and yesterday’s sessions were considerably lower than for days where there were factual witnesses testifying about the events of the mass casualty itself. The morning session, in particular, was not exactly riveting television. The speakers, following the lead to the (two, for some reason) moderators, spoke slowly, and in low tones. Similar to the paramedics and 911 call takers from yesterday, these participants were trying to convey what it is like to be them, or to be in their role, during an event such as this. They were not called to provide factual narratives of what took place, but rather to give us a window into their worlds, and to comment on any changes that they may recommend.