Mainstreet: NDP, PC MLAs call for provincial public inquiry into Portapique massacre
“I think we see two levels of government sort of playing hot potato. Neither of them wants to take the lead on this. But the reality is that provincially we have jurisdiction over law enforcement and the administration of justice here in Nova Scotia. And we also have the Status of Women department and we need to take the lead on misogyny and gender-based violence here in Nova Scotia.
And so, I think the premier is right when he says if there are things that come out of the inquiry, like specific recommendations around gun control or things that are of exclusively a Federal jurisdiction, no, we can’t force those changes. But presumably a bunch of things would come out that relate directly to the law enforcement in our province.
I think where we get stuck is because we contract a great deal of our provincial law enforcement to the RCMP, and the RCMP of course is a federal entity. . . But that doesn’t absolve our government of the responsibility of looking at this issue.
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