The Desmond Fatality Inquiry is set to resume in Port Hawkesbury Tuesday.
Allen Murray, inquiry counsel, says they’ll make time during the session for a number of witnesses who couldn’t provide testimony before, either due to time constraints or technical issues.
Murray tells The Hawk the inquiry is also set to hear from officials with Veterans’ Affairs Canada and Lionel Desmond’s VAC case manager.
“It’s important, like all of the other evidence is important, because it helps us to understand what happened and helps us, hopefully, to make useful and meaningful recommendations to prevent a tragedy like this in the future,” he says. “We found each of the witnesses that we’ve heard and each of the areas we’ve explored (that) we’ve learned a tremendous amount, and I don’t expect this to be any different.”
Murray says this session will likely mark the end of the first phase of the inquiry.
He says the people called to give evidence will change after these next two weeks.
“That will be, primarily, all of the fact-based witnesses,” he says, “Then we’ll be turning our minds to who we might call as experts to help the inquiry.”
Murray says those experts will offer suggestions on recommendations for Judge Warren Zimmer’s final report.
