Good morning. Today, Lisa Banfield is testifying at the Mass Casualty Commission. Her testimony will likely last all day, and will involve detail discussion of violence against her and others. If you want to avoid this, you can mute the hashtag #MCC
We have a full room today, and it looks like all or nearly all of the victims' families are here. Security is very tight. Banfield's testimony starts at 9:30 #MCC
Yesterday, the commissioners released a ruling on Patterson Law's request for directly questioning Banfield and other issues. You can read the ruling here: masscasualtycommission.ca/files/document…
With regards to Banfield's testimony, I mostly disagree with the commissioners. As painful as it would be for Banfield, I think it's in everyone's best interest that she testify over many days, but here we are #MCC
Banfield is allowed two "support" people. I don't know, but I suspect they will be her sisters Maureen and Janice. #MCC
I just spoke briefly with Banfield's lawyer, James Lockyer, who I know from my reporting on the Glen Assoun case. He was quite busy but said I may be able to speak with him at length after Banfield's testimony #MCC
Yesterday, I expressed my concerns about how Banfield has been treated by some of the public and media *since* the mass murders. You can read that thread here: #MCC
https://twitter.com/Tim_Bousquet/status/1547250525887991808?s=20&t=f9QsDUzBfAHtlNxcMPdtDA
If you're new to this, I refer to the killer as "GW." Likely, there will be many such references today #MCC
Banfield provided 4 interviews with police, and 5 with #MCC investigators. The commission complied a "foundational document" about the violence GW directed at her: masscasualtycommission.ca/files/foundati…
Commissioner Fitch says the commission lawyer is objective and the questioning is to be "inquisitive and tenacious." #MCC
Banfield will be questioned by #MCC lawyer Gillian Hantiw, who says that Banfield provided the commission photos of the fake police car that the RCMP had received but later threw out
Banfield is sworn in. She is joined by her sisters Maureen and Janice #MCC 
Banfield explains how she met and started a relationship with GW. And her first date, which I wrote about it here #MCC
"He was just so sweet. He seemed like the perfect guy," testifies Banfield #MCC
Banfield explains how she moved into the apartment above the denture clinic. She eventually ran the lab in the basement of the clinic, and could turn around new dentures in a day, while other clinics could take months #MCC
Banfield says they wanted a cottage somewhat close to Halifax. She saw the For Sale sign on the highway outside. Here's the photo of the back of the cottage #MCC
Banfield says most of the back of the cottage was built by GW, and people he hired #MCC
Here's a photo of the warehouse GW built #MCC
Banfield called the little structure to the left "the woman cave." #MCC
Here's a detail of that structure. The middle door was a sliding door. So, there were 3 doors GW locked every time he left
Here's a photo of the interior. The loft had motorcycles, and a bed for visitors #MCC
Here's a photo of the "work area" of the warehouse #MCC
Here's a photo of the bar to the right, the stairs going to an upstairs apartment on the left. A gas fireplace in the middle. The back stairway goes to the loft with the motorcycles and a bed. #MCC
Here's the pathway between the cottage and the warehouse. Banfield says it took about a minute to walk the path #MCC
There was another rough path/road through the woods, to a property that GW bought to the south, just north of 293 Portapique Beach Road, the house Brenda Forbes sold to Thomas/Zahl #MCC
Banfields says these two "roads" were basically the same trail with different branches. There were stumps and the like on them, and it would be difficult to drive a car on them #MCC
Hantiw asks Banfield about the blueberry field road, and she says she may have walked on it, but doesn't really recall #MCC
Banfield says that GW had a "manual bicycle" that he kept in Dartmouth, but didn't bring it to Portapique #MCC
Banfield says GW would go to Portapique often without her, and had lots of friends in Portapique, many of whom she didn't know #MCC
Banfield says GW didn't have a cell phone, and there was no land line in Portapique, and she would communicate with him via email. #MCC
I've been reading through about 3 years of email between GW and Banfield. She uses a lot of heart emojis. I haven't yet seen anything terribly interesting, but in retrospect, it's obvious that he was avoiding her much of the time #MCC
We're taking a short break so they can fix Banfield's mic #MCC
Here's the pool photo of Banfield (centre) testifying. I don't know which sister is which. Photographer is Andrew Vaughn with the Canadian Press #MCC
I expect where this is leading to is that GW had a long-time sexual relationship with a Portapique woman referred to as EE, and would bring other women to the cottage in Banfield's absence. He also had a brief relationship with Lisa McCully. #MCC
I see people in my timeline questioning the questioning. It *is* slow and detailed, but this is common. It's also why I think they need more than one day. I fear we're going to be here until midnight. #MCC
.@Suzanne_Rent tells me that Janice Banfield is the one with the dark hair, orange dress. The other sister is Maureen.
We're back. Banfield is testifying about the fake police car. She says he always collected vehicles. He purchased 4 decommissioned RCMP Four Tauruses in 2019. Here are 3 of them (including the fully marked one), with GW's truck #MCC
Banfield says the fake police car was the most recently purchased. Its front end was destroyed, as if it had been in a crash, and GW rebuilt it #MCC
Banfield says the she drove one of the cars, he drove a second, the 3rd was for parts, and the 4th was recreated as the fake police car #MCC
Banfield says he told her he was going to put the names of "fallen" RCMP officers on the hood. He told many other people the same sort of thing #MCC
Banfield says GW was friend with Max at Crown Assets (surplus federal property) #MCC
Hantiw: did GW ever barter goods with Max? Banfield: I'm not sure #MCC
Here's another photo of the car, showing the front push bar. GW bought and installed the push bar #MCC
Hantiw shows this photo, drawing our attention to the Watch Guard at the top of the photo, which was dashcam. Banfield doesn't know if it was connected. #MCC
Here's a photo of the "silent patrolman," the plexiglass divider between the back and front street of the car. Banfield says she escaped through the divider the night of April 18 #MCC
Banfield says that her phone was destroyed that night, but her photos went to the cloud, and subsequently Janice helped her retrieve the photos, and Banfield gave the RCMP access to her icloud account, so they would have had these photos #MCC
A man at the Mercedes dealership said GW drove up to the dealership in the fake police car. "He's firm in his conviction" Banfield says "I'm firm in my conviction" that that never happened #MCC
Banfield says she didn't think so many people knew about the fake car, but now knows that lots of Portapique in knew about it #MCC
Hantiw: "lots of people have seen this police car... could he have been driving it?" Banfield: not that I know of. #MCC
Hantiw: "Did you ever worry that he might use that car to hurt or harm others?" Banfield: "No." Hantiw: he had a police badge? Banfield: "It was actually an ambulance badge"; he picked it up at a surplus store in the states. #MCC
Banfield says he also had one of his uncle Chris's RCMP business cards, and he would flash those to get discounts at hotels. #MCC
Banfield says she saw him use the badge and business card for that purpose in the US, but not in Canada #MCC
GW got a red serge jacket from one of his RCMP uncles. It was too small small for him to wear, but he hung it in the cottage #MCC
He also had a "duty uniform" — a hat and pair of pants with a yellow strip, a holster, and handcuffs. He told Banfield he got it from Sean McLeod. #MCC
Banfield says he would collect things — vehicles, boats, toilet paper, uniforms, etc. He also had a transit uniform and a firefighter's uniform #MCC
Hantiw: he had all this stuff, were you concerned that he might impersonate a police officer? Banfield: No. Why would anyone do that? I never thought he would do that #MCC
Banfield: he had "a bunch of hunting rifles when I first met him," and then got pistols and automatic rifles. I think that he got them in the states #MCC
Hantiw: Where did he keep these weapons? Banfield: "everywhere," he would move them around, hide them here and there in the cottage and warehouse. #MCC
Hantiw: why didn't he have a firearms licence? Banfield: He told me that because when he came from the US, if he had a firearms licence, they'd get stopped every time #MCC
Hantiw: you knew it was illegal that he had those guns? Banfield: yes. Hantiw: Did you ever report him? Banfield: no. Hantiw: were you worried that he would hurt you with them? Banfield: yes. She tears up describing being threatened with the guns by him #MCC
In 2010, GW called his uncle Glynn and threatened to drive to Moncton to kill his parents. Banfield and GW were in Dartmouth at the time, and he fired a gun in the apartment... "to intimidate me." #MCC
When the Halifax PD showed up, Banfield told the cops there were no weapons in the house #MCC
Hantiw: did you hear him make the threat to kill his parents? Banfield: Yes. Hantiw: why didn't you tell Sgt. Poirier that? Banfield: "because I was scared" #MCC
Hantiw: shy did you lie about there not being guns in the house? Banfield: because he had a gun in the bedroom, and if any cops came, he said he would shoot them #MCC
Poirier came back later in the day, and Banfield again said there were no weapons in the house #MCC
Banfield says he didn't remember telling him there no weapons. She said that he went to Portapique, not Fredericton, and took the gun with him. #MCC
Hantiw: do you know an RCMP officer named Greg Wiley? Banfield: yes, we were driving around the back roads once, and we pulled up to a house, and he introduced me to him (this happened before 2010) #MCC
Banfied says that after the threat to GW's parents, Wiley came to the cottage and asked him about firearms, and he showed him an old musket hanging on the wall, that had the firing mechanism removed. "He was only there for about 10 minutes" #MCC
Banfield says that GW said he met Wiley when someone broke into the cottage to steal tools, and Wiley was the responding cop. (There's other evidence that GW stole his own tools in order to get the insurance claim) #MCC
My spellcheck changed the spelling of Hnatiw's name. My apologies.
Hnatiw is asking Banfield about the "Sutherland Lake" incident #MCC
Banfield now clarifies it was 2003, as that's when her niece Stephanie Goulding (who picked her up) was pregnant #MCC
Banfield says a police officer, driving what looked to be an RCMP car, took GW back to Portapique. #MCC
Banfield explains what happened next #MCC
Then Banfield ended up calling her niece #MCC
Hnatiw: why didn't you want to anyone to call police? Banfield: it's the first time anyone ever hit me. I didn't want anyone to get in trouble. #MCC
Banfield breaks down in tears, and it's decided this is a good time for a lunch break. We'll return at 1pm. #MCC
Some people are parsing everything Banfield does: She's not emotional enough. She's too emotional. She's explaining why she said false things, so that proves she's a liar. And on and on. They may as well simply call her a witch. #MCC
I haven't done much reporting on domestic violence. It's not something I've given a lot of thought to, to my discredit. But it's clear to me that many want to blame a woman for the sins of a man, and seem to *need* to find a woman to fault when something terrible happens
And just to repeat for the 1,000th time: I've read transcripts of interviews with dozens of people, I've read 3 years' of email between Banfield and GW, I've read her Notes app... there is ZERO evidence that she had any prior knowledge GW's intent to kill people #MCC
The notion that she is "complicit" is pulled out of people's diarrhetic asses and plain old-fashioned misogyny. #MCC
Neither here nor there, but the wrongful conviction literature, which mostly involves men being wrongly convicted, includes far too many women as well. ALWAYS, there is misogyny in the mix, from witnesses, cops, prosecutors, juries, and judges. #MCC
We're about to start again. I notice that there are some children in the audience. Also, I fear there are so many people here this may be a superspreader event #MCC
Hnatiw is backing up to ask some followup from victims' families' lawyers #MCC
Banfield says that GW never acquired a decommissioned police car before 2019. This is important because Constable Troy Maxwell said that Brenda Forbes' 2013 call to police was about GW driving a decommissioned police car too fast in the neighbourhood #MCC
.@joan_baxter covered this aspect yesterday. There's NO EVIDENCE at all that GW had any decommissioned police cars in 2013 #MCC halifaxexaminer.ca/featured/an-rc…
Banfield agrees with Forbes's assessment that Banfield was basically GW's "Barbie doll" and that he would pull her away from parties if it looked like she was having too much funny #MCC
Banfield says that so far as she knows, no one in Portapique helped GW build the fake police car #MCC
Banfield: "he was an alcoholic," but says that was self-diagnosed. She says he didn't use drugs. She never saw GW providing pot to workers, etc #MCC
Hnatiw quotes an email in which GW said he was going to Glenholme "to get stoned." Banfield said Glenholme was where he picked up flagstone, implying it was a typos #MCC
Hnatiw shows Banfield her written statement (sorry, can't find it right now, tho I've read it) in which she says she "couldn't call him down"... "Did you know he was planning a mass casualty?" Banfield: "No."
Banfield: he was paranoid about COVID, fearing that we would die #MCC
Hnatiw asks Banfield about gunshots on April 18. Banfield says she heard "lots" of gunfire through the night. She says when she found a work truck to hide in, she left because the light came on, then she fell to the ground and heard gunshots while she was in a "divot" #MCC
Banfield is unclear where the gunshots were coming from, but just behind her somewhere. The gunshots continued when she was hiding in the tree trunk, but they were at a distance #MCC
Banfield said she saw a house go up in flames. "I heard two guys, and they were freaking out," she wanted to warn them, but then was afraid of GW. She heard "hey boys or something and bang bang.... obviously that was him" #MCC
This sounds like it could've been the murder of Corrie Ellison. He was speaking with his brother, and then went alone down the road to check out the fire #MCC
Hnatiw asks her about the voices of people freaking out. Banfield says it was "what the F is going on," and then "I heard 'hey boys' and bang bang" #MCC
Now Hnatiw is back to her own questioning, asking Banfield about GW's relationship to the victims #MCC
Banfield says she didn't know Greg and Jamie Blair. Hnatiw: is it possible he went to their home to look for you? Banfield: [cries] and says she thinks so #MCC
Banfield says she knew Lisa McCully but didn't know of any previous relationship between GW and McCully #MCC
Banfield says she knew Frank and Dawn Gulenchyn, but has no idea why GW would target them #MCC
Banfield says GW seemed to like Joanne Thomas and Thomas Zahl and can't think of any reason why he would target them #MCC
Moving on to Corrie Ellison, Banfield says when they first moved to Portapique, Richard Ellison would come over and drink, but he and GW had some sort of falling out. She didn't know why he would have a problem with his son Corrie Ellison #MCC
Hnatiw asks about Aaron Tuck, Jolene Oliver, and Emily Tuck. Banfield says she never talked with them #MCC
Here's where the Tucks lived. Hnatiw asks if GW might have gone there to find Banfield. Banfield doesn't think so. #MCC
Banfield recalls that there was an older man who died (Aaron Tuck's father) there, and GW tried to buy it, but Aaron didn't want to sell. #MCC
Now on to Joy and Peter Bond, next door neighbours to the Tucks. Banfield said she met them once, when Joy brought a dessert to GW because GW had helped them with something on their property #MCC
Hnatiw: was he interested in buying that property? Banfield: not that he told me #MCC
Hnatiw: were there any residents of Portapique that *weren't* killed that GW had a conflict with? Banfield: "Leon", that is Leon Joudrey #MCC
Now to Sean McLeod and Alana Jenkins. Banfield knew them, they would come to the cottage to have drinks. "He seemed to have a good relationship with them." Hnatiw: how'd he know them? Banfield: I don't know #MCC
Banfield said she socialized with them "half a dozen times" through the years #MCC
Hnatiw: did you socialize with them over Xmas or New Years in 2019? Banfield: No, but I invited them to GW's birthday party. That's the last time I saw him #MCC
Banfield says she never visited Hunter Road, but says when she was in Dartmouth and GW was in Portapique, he'd ride his motorbike up to Hunter Road. #MCC
Hnatiw: were they in Portapique in the 48 hours before the murders? Banfield: no. #MCC
Hnatiw: did he ever compare you to Alana? Banfield: No. Hnatiw: did GW ever make threats against Sean? Banfield: no. Hnatiw: did Sean or Alana ever advise you to leave the killer? Banfield: no. #MCC
Hnatiw: Did you know the Fishers? Banfield: I met them twice. Once, they came to the cottage on their motorbikes. Another time, we were driving, and GW stopped in Glenholme and they showed me a garage they were building #MCC
Hnatiw: can you think of any reason GW would stop there that day? Banfield: No #MCC
Hnatiw: Did you know Gina Goulet? Banfield: Yes. At first, GW said he didn't like her or Maureen Hope. But I went to a denturist meeting, and I got along with Gina, and GW seemed to like that we got close. #MCC
Banfield: He started talking about retirement, and he had the idea that Gina would take over his business, but I would keep working. But then COVID hit... #MCC
Just to clarify, Maureen Hope is the registrar of the denturist society, which reprimanded GW #MCC
Now Hnatiw is reading the names of the seemingly random victims: Tom Bagley, Lillian Campbell, Kristen Beaton, Heather O'Brien, Joey Webber, Heidi Stevenson. Banfield doesn't know any of them. #MCC
Hnatiw is introducing a psychological assessment of Banfield that was provided by Banfield's lawyer, James Lockyer #MCC
The assessment says Banfield no longer feels safe walking down the street. Banfield says she fears being attacked #MCC
The assessment says Banfield has a "fawn response" #MCC
Banfield says a lot of people reached out and supported her afterwards. But those supports stopped. "If it wasn't for my family, I wouldn't have a home... " [she breaks down in tears], I know that's unfair as those killed don't have a home at either #MCC
We're breaking so the other lawyers can canvass. We're back around 2:30 or so #MCC
I'm seeing a lot of bullshit about Lisa Banfield coming from people who haven't said a word about Sean Conlogue, who supplied the illegal guns, or the many men who watched Banfield get beaten, and saw the illegal weapons and fake police car but said nothing. #MCC
Truly, the Sean Conlogue angle is worth pursuing. He acquired and stored weapons for GW, both of which were illegal under even American law, but he hasn't been charged with squat. And then he talked at length with GW in the days before the murders. #MCC
[aside: I've gotten somewhere north of a thousand messages, DMs, emails, etc, etc, today, and there's no way I'm even going to read most of them]
We're about to start again. #MCC
Well, maybe not. Still waiting #MCC
If I run to the washroom, which is on the wrong side of the metal detectors, proceedings will invariably restart in my absence...
Huh, that didn't work. Maybe I'll try paying some bills.
Best I can gather... Michael Scott and some of the families walked out, and I'm thinking that the remaining lawyers are pushing to get some questions asked, and there's a lot of back-and-forth #MCC
Now we really are about to restart #MCC
Hnatiw is now going to ask questions supplied by the other lawyers. Not ideal, but here we are. Hnatiw says she'll "jump around" a bit #MCC
Hnatiw is reading this except re Brenda Forbes #MCC
Hnatiw: Do you recall Glynn Wortman witnessing this incident? Banfield: Yes. Hnatiw: did you know Brenda Forbes call the RCMP? Banfield: No. Hnatiw: Did the RCMP ever come talk to you about this? Banfield: No #MCC
Hnatiw: Did GW own any decommissioned police cars at that time? Banfield: No #MCC
Hnatiw: This week, Brenda Forbes said there was a photograph of the attack... do you know about that? Banfield: No. #MCC
Hnatiw now talks about another choking innocent, when Banfield flex to Brenda Forbes house. Banfield says she stayed for about 20 minutes... "she basically said there was help out there, but I was too scared" #MCC
Hnatiw: you said "grown men" were afraid of GW. Who? Banfield: Ellison Sutherland, Tom Evans, a man who worked for GW ("a skinny guy"). Hnatiw: so these were the people who witnessed the attack? Banfield: yes #MCC
Oh, I missed Peter Griffin, who was also present #MCC
re the fake police car, Hnatiw asks who GW said approved it was OK to own but not drive. Banfield doesn't know who said that, but in his statement, GW's lawyer, Kevin Von Bargen, said it was in fact him. #MCC
re the cottage break in that led to Cst. Greg Wiley coming, Banfield says she doesn't know who stole the tools #MCC
Here's another photo of the silent patrolman, and Banfield says this was the way she escaped that night #MCC
Hnatiw is getting into the geography of Banfield coming out of the woods #MCC
Hnatiw: Glynn Wortman said that GW said he killed someone in the US. Did you hear that? Banfield: GW never said that to me [there's no evidence that GW actually killed anyone in the US] #MCC
Hnatiw shows this email from GW in which he says he represented himself as a police officer. Banfield says he doesn't remember the email, but she remembers him telling her about it later #MCC
Hnatiw gets Banfield to clarify that it was Sean Conlogue, and not Sean McLeod, who supplied the weapons to GW. (She had just said "Sean" earlier.) #MCC
Hnatiw asks about the pants with a yellow stripe. GW had said McLeod had given it to GW, but a corrections uniform doesn't have a yellow stripe. Banfield says she didn't think McLeod *wore* the pants, but just acquired it #MCC
Now Hnatiw asks Banfield about Peter Griffin helping with the fake police car. Banfield says she only learned of that after news reports came out after the murders #MCC
This is an excerpt from Banfield's hospital record after April 19 #MCC
Banfield: "I still have bad pain. Mentally, I still take pills for stress, and for sleeping" #MCC
Hnatiw: there's been lots of rumours and media reports about you. Banfield [in tears]: people don't know me or my family. I know people are angry... but someone could come after me or my family... it's been hard #MCC
Hnatiw: if you had more support from the community (those people who witnessed beatings), would that have made a difference? Banfield: I don't think so, because I was scared for my family #MCC
We're breaking for 10 minutes to make sure there aren't more questions, and for the commissioners to prepare questions from themselves #MCC
We're back. Hnatiw: doing the morning of April 19, do you recall hearing the sound of a drone overheard? Banfield: no #MCC
The commissioners themselves have no questions. #MCC
Commissioner Michael MacDonald thanks Banfield for her testimony #MCC
I have a lot to write about today, but I'm going to sleep on it and write it tomorrow so that it's more coherent. #MCC
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