Two Years Later: The Urgent Need to Implement the Mass Casualty Commission’s Recommendations

By Luke's Place | March 25, 2025

On March 30, 2023, the Nova Scotia Mass Casualty Commission released its final report, Turning the Tide Together. Now, as we approach the two-year anniversary of the report, we must ask: have we turned the tide, or are we still waiting for change? Unfortunately, a review of the femicide numbers makes it clear that we are still waiting for change. In 2024 alone, there were 187 documented femicides, each one preventable.

The Mass Casualty Commission was established to examine the devastating events of April 18–19, 2020, when a single perpetrator took the lives of 22 people across rural Nova Scotia. The perpetrator had a long history of committing acts of gender-based violence, including intimate-partner violence against his common law partner. The Commission was tasked with providing meaningful recommendations to make communities safer. The final report delivered 130 recommendations to prevent future tragedies and support in eliminating gender-based violence. However, recommendations alone are not enough, they must be acted upon.

One of the report’s most urgent calls was for a greater focus on addressing and preventing the root causes of gender-based violence. The Commission made it clear that public safety is not possible without concrete action on these forms of violence.

Two years later, survivors, advocates, and experts continue to push for meaningful change through implementation of the recommendations. We cannot allow this report to gather dust or be forgotten while communities remain vulnerable to the same systemic failures that contributed to the 2020 tragedy. Governments at all levels must prioritize the report’s recommendations with the urgency they deserve. This means investing in violence prevention, improving police accountability, and strengthening support systems for those at risk. One of the recommendations from the report, V.17, called for the federal government to, “an independent and impartial gender-based violence commissioner”. This would bolster accountability to ensure all recommendations are meaningfully implemented. LEAF also references this call in their report calling for federal government accountability to end gender-based violence.

Two years is more than enough time to move from words to action. We cannot wait anymore while women are being killed. It is time to fully implement the recommendations of Turning the Tide Together because safety, justice, and meaningful change cannot wait.