Lionel Desmond inquiry: N.S. opposition wants transparency on government progress

A document of the report and recommendations by judge Paul Scovil on the Desmond Fatality Inquiry is photographed at the courthouse in Port Hawkesbury, N.S., Wednesday, Jan. 31, 2024. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darren Calabrese

HALIFAX — Nova Scotia opposition parties say the government lacks transparency surrounding its work implementing recommendations from an inquiry into a former soldier who killed his family and himself in 2017.

They made their comments today after a veterans affairs committee meeting that looked into the government’s progress following the inquiry into the Lionel Desmond tragedy.

In January 2024 the inquiry issued 25 recommendations including for the province to improve health access for Black Nova Scotians.

A new government-run website aimed at tracking progress on this work says efforts are underway on 12 of the 25 recommendations.

But Kim Stewart, associate deputy minister of the Department of Mental Health, told the committee today that the government is actually working to address all 25.

Liberal member Iain Rankin said Nova Scotians deserve transparency around the government’s work, and NDP member Suzy Hansen said it’s worrying the website omits 13 of the 25 recommendations.

Desmond was an infantryman with severe post-traumatic stress disorder and depression who saw intense combat in Afghanistan in 2007. On Jan. 3, 2017, he purchased a semi-automatic rifle and fatally shot his wife, their daughter, his mother and then himself in their home in Upper Big Tracadie, N.S.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 21, 2026.