Murray Wood: Of Easter bunny bells and Juicy Fruit gum
For Murray Wood, Easter brings to mind grandma's practical advice about repurposing, and some of life's little lessons.
HALIFAX — Four years after a mass shooting in Nova Scotia claimed 22 lives, the RCMP have presented 32 awards to officers and staff for their roles in the manhunt and the public inquiry that followed.
The awards, approved by RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme in May, are described in documents obtained under the federal access to information law by author and journalist Dean Beeby.
The documents say a committee within the RCMP’s Honours and Recognition Unit assessed 316 nominations and approved 23 commendations from the commissioner, eight merit awards and one unit commendation.
“All of the individuals and the units mentioned went above and beyond demonstrating the RCMP core values throughout such a harrowing experience,” says an undated letter signed by two RCMP superintendents.
“All the dedicated individuals mentioned … displayed incredible bravery or outstanding service, professional ethics and integrity, unwavering support and commitment in responding to the largest mass casualty shooting in Canadian history, its aftermath and the public inquiry that followed.”
The heavily redacted files do not name any of the award recipients.
The RCMP could not be immediately reached for comment.
The documents, however, do mention that the unit commendation was for the RCMP’s nine-member litigation team, which compiled thousands of pages of evidence and other documents for the two-year inquiry led by the Mass Casualty Commission.
The inquiry heard that on April 18-19, 2020, a Halifax-area denture-maker disguised as a Mountie and driving a replica RCMP cruiser managed to elude police for 13 hours as he continued a killing rampage across northern and central Nova Scotia.
Gabriel Wortman fatally shot 13 people on the first night, and the next day he killed another nine people, including a pregnant woman and RCMP officer Heidi Stevenson.
The inquiry found widespread failures in the Mounties’ response to the mass shooting, saying the RCMP were poorly organized and failed to promptly send alerts to the public until it was too late for some victims.
As well, the inquiry determined that the Mounties missed warning signs about the killer, including reports of domestic violence, his possession of illegal firearms and his repeated run-ins with the law.
The inquiry’s seven-volume report, released in March 2023, went so far as to suggest Ottawa should rethink the RCMP’s central role in Canadian policing.
Most of the inquiry’s other recommendation were aimed at improving public safety, reforming the national police force, limiting access to firearms and addressing the root causes of gender-based violence. But about half of its recommendations focused on policing.
In October of last year, an independent committee reported the RCMP and governments have plenty of work to do before they complete changes recommended by the inquiry.
The progress monitoring committee — appointed by the federal and Nova Scotia governments — said it reviewed 14 categories of recommendations and found that police and government officials had completed taking action on only two of them.
Despite those lacklustre numbers, committee chairwoman Myra Freeman said she was pleased with the progress to date, adding the rate of change can never be fast enough. As well, she praised the RCMP for implementing recommendations related to governance and critical incident response engagement.
As well, the 50-page report emphasized that progress is being made on several other fronts, including emergency management, regulatory oversight, mental wellness and gender-based violence prevention. And the Mounties’ efforts to improve public warnings and other aspects of critical incident response were described as on track.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2026.
Michael MacDonald, The Canadian Press
