More than two years after the worst mass killing in Canadian history, one of the most anticipated witnesses at the public inquiry into that tragedy will finally testify Friday about what she saw and heard before and during the attack that left 22 people dead. It will be the first time Lisa Banfield, the wife of the gunman responsible for the April 2020 rampage in rural Nova Scotia, will publicly tell her story. But a decision by the Mass Accident Commission, the body conducting the joint federal-provincial investigation into the killings, to shield her from cross-examination has once again shaken faith in the investigation among some of those most closely associated with her. Ms Banfield will only answer questions from the panel’s lawyer, not lawyers representing the families of the gunman’s victims. This has angered those involved in the investigation, who say there are inconsistencies in previous statements he has made to committee investigators. Ms. Banfield was accused of supplying her wife with ammunition used in the attack, but those charges were expected to be dropped after she was placed in Nova Scotia’s restorative justice program, an alternative to the criminal courts that allowed her to testify at the inquest. . Her attorneys did not respond to interview requests for this story. The families of the gunman’s victims, who had hoped the independent inquiry would finally give them the answers they sought, are threatening to walk away from the inquiry altogether after learning they will not be allowed to question Ms Banfield. “To say they are extremely upset is an understatement. It’s not what they expected. This bears no resemblance to what we told them would be an investigation,” said Michael Scott, whose Halifax firm Patterson Law is representing 14 victims’ families. “They are largely ready to wash their hands of this supply.” Warning: Video contains details of partner violence, assault and firearms. Lisa Banfield was the common-law wife of the Nova Scotia gunman who killed 22 people in 2020. In October 2020, Ms. Banfield led police to locations where she had been attacked by the gunman the night the massacre began, and later escaped in the forest with terror. The Globe and Mail The Mass Casualties Commission says Ms Banfield, who has already given five interviews to commission investigators, has suffered enough as a victim of the gunman’s violence and will be allowed to give evidence with two support people by her side. Lawyers for the families will also be allowed to suggest questions to be asked, the committee said. On Wednesday, the commission released a document detailing the abuse and violence Ms Banfield suffered over the years at the hands of her partner. “(He would) pull me by the hair to get me off the ground until my scalp felt like it was going to tear – punch me (body, face, neck) and kick me. Although I remember him raping me only once. I felt like I was his wife and what could I do?’ he told investigators. It is not the first time that the commission’s “trauma-informed” approach, which prioritizes protecting the mental health of witnesses, has caused an uproar. A decision in May to allow senior RCMP commanders to avoid cross-examination sparked protests and a boycott by victims’ families. Mr Scott says the idea that the families’ lawyers are unable to cross-examine Ms Banfield without reprimanding her on the stand or further injuring her is insulting. “We keep running into people who seem to have a televised understanding of what confrontation is,” he said. “They say, ‘Why do you want to reprimand this person?’ This really shows a misunderstanding of what this is.” The principles of cross-examination and examining a witness’s evidence through cross-examination have been a foundation of courts for centuries, he said. It’s a fundamental part of even the most traumatic sexual assault cases and can be done sensitively while balancing the need to ask tough questions, he said. Many of the questions his clients want answered center on the story Ms. Banfield told police after the mass shooting. Specifically, they want to know how she broke free from the handcuffs she said the gunman put on her and how she managed to survive a night hiding in the woods in sub-zero temperatures wearing nothing but a T-shirt and yoga pants. he said. “They don’t just want answers to questions. They want the truth,” he said. “Provincial and federal taxpayers have paid Broadway prices for a three-ring circus.” Ms Banfield has become a polarizing figure among those closest to the killing spree. It was yet another violent attack on her that drew his ire on the night of April 18, 2020. Her defenders say it’s evidence of the role gender-based violence plays in some mass shootings. But some people say her close relationship with the gunman as she prepared for his attack should be looked at more deeply. “In the face of unfathomable trauma and loss, it’s understandable to look for someone to blame,” said Erin Breen, an attorney representing the Avalon Sexual Assault Center, the Women’s Legal Education and Action Fund and a women’s rights group in prisons. “But Lisa Banfield is not responsible for the perpetrator’s violence.” The gunman was clearly a violent, obsessive man with a history of abusing his common-law wife. Many people told the police they saw him attack his wife but were too scared to intervene. Complaints to the police went nowhere. “The guy was a psychopath,” former neighbor Brenda Forbes told RCMP a week after the mass shooting. “She beat the crap out of her one day and ran into my house,” Ms. Forbes told the RCMP. “She told me in no uncertain terms that she was too scared to leave because he would find her and kill her.” With file from The Canadian Press The Morning Update and Afternoon Update newsletters are written by Globe editors, giving you a concise summary of the day’s most important headlines. Sign up today.
