HALIFAX — The public inquiry into the deaths of Lionel Desmond and his family will examine whether the troubled Afghanistan war veteran had access to mental health and domestic violence services — and whether he should have been able to buy a gun. The inquiry, promised by Nova Scotia last December, will examine whether Desmond had access to appropriate mental health services, and whether he and his family had access to domestic violence intervention services. It will look at whether health care and social services providers who interacted with Desmond were trained to recognize occupational stress injuries or domestic violence, and also whether Desmond should have been able to retain, or obtain, a licence enabling him to purchase a firearm. For the last year-and-a-half I’ve been battling over … what went wrong and how are we going to get this inquiry done. “The next step in the inquiry process will be the announcement of a provincial court judge and designated Crown counsel to conduct the inquiry.

Source: National Post May 24, 2018 13:36 UTC