Relatives of the people killed in the mass shootings across Nova Scotia in April 2020 waited hours — sometimes days — for information about their loved ones, often driving to crime scenes or scouring social media to get their own answers.

Some victims’ homes weren’t investigated until calls began mounting from family members, while the main RCMP liaison missed a meeting he’d made with one family, and on multiple occasions the proper next of kin weren’t notified first.

“I could get no information. So had to learn everything I could over Facebook,” Justin Zahl, a grandson of victims John Zahl and Joanne Thomas, told police