The public inquiry into the mass shooting that took 22 lives in Nova Scotia almost three years ago, identified many failures in how the RCMP responded.
The seven-volume final report released on Thursday is recommending an overhaul of the RCMP.
The commission says police missed red flags in the years leading up to the mass casualty that resulted in the death of 22 people, by a denturist, disguised as an RCMP officer.
Gabriel Wortman, the murderer, was killed 13 hours into his rampage by two RCMP officers at a gas station.
The report looked into the causes of the mass shooting, such as the killer’s violence towards his wife, Lisa Banfield, and the forces’ failure to act on it. The commission says implicit biases seemed to blind community members and officers to the danger a white, male professional presented.
It suggests an external, independent review of the RCMP, closing down the current training depot in Regina and setting up a Canadian Police College.
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The document’s summary says shortly after the shooting began in Portapique, N.S., RCMP officers ignored witness reports, and senior officers incorrectly assumed that residents were wrong when they reported seeing Wortman driving a marked RCMP vehicle.
Commanders in the police force assumed the killer’s vehicle was an old police cruiser that was decommissioned with no or very few markings.
Additionally, police failed to send out alerts to the public with a description of the shooter in a timely manner.
When Wortman died, he was in possession of five firearms – two semi-automatic handguns, a police-style carbine, a semi-automatic rifle and an RCMP-issued pistol stolen from an officer killed – all five were obtained illegally.
He was believed to own several other firearms that were destroyed in fires.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says the government will take time to digest and understand the recommendations so it can implement the proper changes.
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