Opposition critics on the Advisory Council on the Status of Women call for an inquiry into mass murder, but McNeil government demurs

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‘We join the call for a provincial inquiry, including a gendered lens,’ Chender said. ‘I definitely think that the provincial government needs to take the lead on that. If the federal government wants to join an inquiry, that’s great.’

Chender disagrees with Premier Stephen McNeil that there is a jurisdictional reason to have Ottawa take the lead, and says that his argument has been countered ‘very persuasively by a number of legal scholars and others.’

She is particularly concerned about things that are specific to Nova Scotia and the administration of justice in the province, and the ‘really troubling systemic gender-based violence that goes on in our province.’

‘I think we have to look at misogyny and intimate partner violence in a really, really specific and clear and detailed way, and how that did or didn’t play a role in the events of last April,’ Chender told the Examiner.

An inquiry, she said, would get at ‘tacit acceptance and looking the other way’ when someone witnesses abusive behaviour. ‘What all of this is pointing to is the need for a culture change.’

‘I think our province really wants to understand how this could have happened and understand how to prevent it from ever happening again.’

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Claudia Chender MLA