Justice Leo Barry may soon release all reports about Don Dunphy's shooting death

All reports regarding the police shooting death of Don Dunphy could be released to the public as soon as mid-November if inquiry Commissioner Leo Barry has his way.

"Too much time has passed without the public getting relatively full disclosure as to what happened," said Barryat the first public hearingof the inquiryinto Dunphy's death Wednesday.

Donald Dunphy was fatally shot by RNCConst. Joe Smyth at his home on Easter Sunday,April 5, 2015.

Smyth, who was a member of the premier's security detail at the time, showed up on Dunphy's doorstep that day to assess whether Dunphy's posts on social media constituted a threat to Davis's safety.

JusticeBarry initially suggested allreports stemming from investigations into what happened that daythose by the police,Judge David Riche and the AlbertaSerious Incident Response Team could be released publicly"withina matter of days."

But Laurie Rasmussen, a lawyer for the RCMP,said she feared some information in the reports might be misunderstood or "takenout of context."

"Our preference would be for them to be disclosed [publicly] during the course of the commission," she said.

The commission is aiming to begin formal public hearings in January 2017, perhaps as early as January 9.

Joe Smyth attended inquiry's first public hearing

The police officer who fatally shotDunphyattended most of Wednesday's hearing.

JoeSmythdid not speak, but his lawyer Jerome Kennedy emphasized hewants the reports releasedquickly.

"In this particular case, nothing is going to change between what's in that report today and what's going to be in that report when it's presented. So from Constable Smyth's perspective, we support whatever reasonable information can be released to the public so they can get a fuller understanding of what occurred on that particular day," he said.

Meghan Dunphy's lawyer, Erin Breen,is also calling for the reports to be made public soon.

"I think it's an obvious concern of Commissioner Barry that the documentation become public as quicklyaspossible and we support that," Breen said.

Barryagreed to first release the reports to all parties with standing at the inquiry. He said they'll then be given an opportunity to comment if they believe anything shouldbe withheld from the public. The tentative target for release of the documents to the public is mid-November.

Standing granted to seven of nine parties

Applications for standing atthe inquirywere decided by Barry on Wednesday. He also made recommendations to the provincial government regarding who should get funding to take part.

The province will make the final decision on funding.

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Barry granted standing the right to participate in the inquiry and recommended funding for legal representation for Const.Smyth; Meghan Dunphy, Dunphy's daughter; and Paul Davis, the premier at the time.

The Royal Newfoundland Constabulary was also grantedstanding and funding. The Attorney General of Canada was alsogiven standing on behalf of the RCMP, but funding was not requested.

The Don Dunphy Community Coalition also did not ask for funding, but the group that represents about 100 people in the Mitchells Brook area where he lived was granted standing.

Andrew Abbass was not granted standing. Abbass claimed he was unlawfully detained in Corner Brook, under mental health legislation, after making a tweet that called for all politicians to be executed in the wake of Dunphy's shooting.

Barry said Abbass may be called as a witness.

The Ad Hoc Committee for Civil Liberties a group of social media users including Ed Hollett and Hans Rollmann also asked for standing and funding. Barry didn't make a decision about thatrequest on Wednesday.

Justice Barry said the purpose for the inquiry isto establish the facts and causes of the shootingto help determine what went wrong or right and to make recommendations on howto avoid errors in the future.