One judge to oversee early phase of 24 lawsuits against federal government over 2014 shootings

Twenty-four separate lawsuits have been filed against the federal government by current and former RCMP officers who responded to the 2014 shootings in Moncton.

The separate civil cases involve officers who were part of the responsetoJustin Bourque'sshooting rampage on June 4, 2014, that left three Mounties dead and two injured.

The cases allege the federal government failed to properly equip and train officers to respond to an active shooter.

Plaintiffs say this led to officerssufferingserious psychological trauma.

The federal government has yet to formally respond to the allegations in the cases.

On Thursday, lawyers representing the federal government and the officers appeared by phone, and a judge agreed to appoint one judge to oversee the pre-trial aspects of all 24 cases.

"This will hopefully be a way of moving those matters along," Brian Murphy, who represents the officers, said in an interview.

Court of Queen's Bench Chief Justice Tracey DeWare said it made sense to have one judge deal with common issues in the 24 separate cases.

DeWare said that because of the heavy criminal court caseload that judges in Moncton face this year, she would likely appoint herself to the case management role.

That role would see her consider pre-trial motions and issues, setting deadlines for filings and disclosing of records.

The cases began to be filed in 2019, with the most recent case filed in June 2020.

Kathleen McManus, a lawyer representing the federal government, told the judge the COVID-19 pandemic affected the response to the cases.

"It caused quite a dramatic change in working conditions,"McManus said.

McManussaid the federal government will ask the case management judge, once appointed, to dismiss 22 of the cases because the federal government views them as barred under theCrown Liability and Proceedings Act and the Pension Act.

No carbines during shooting

The night of the shooting, there were no carbine firearms at the CodiacRCMP detachment.

Officers responded with handguns and shotguns.

The shooter was dressed in camouflage clothingwalking the streets of the city's north endwith a rifle.

New Brunswick had just received 22 of the firearms, but they were all atCanadian Forces Base Gagetown for a training exercise because the force was in the middle of rolling them out.

The RCMP was found guilty in 2017 of workplace safety charges and fined$550,000.

Justice Leslie Jackson found the RCMP violated a Canada Labour Code by failing to provide adequate use-of-force equipment and related user training to officers.

The lawsuits filed years after that decisionmention it as a basis for going after the federal government for money.

"The RCMP did not act with due diligence in rolling out the carbines, despite knowing of the potential grievous bodily harm or death that front-line officers faced," read the claims.

Murphy said his clients have felt anger and disappointment with how long the process is taking to seek compensation for what happened.

"Many of them are so profoundly affected, they will never, ever be the same people and it's because they didn't have the tools to do their job," Murphy said.

"They were miners without a shovel. They were surgeons without a scalpel. They didn't have the tools to take down the assailant, and they could have, had the RCMP done its job in supplying its workers with the right tools."