Lisa Banfield, the former common-law partner of Gabriel Wortman, the man behind the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting, is set to publish a memoir detailing her experiences of intimate partner violence, survival and the aftermath of Canada’s deadliest shooting rampage.
The book, titled The First Survivor: Life With Canada’s Deadliest Mass Shooter, is co-written with Banfield’s sister Maureen and journalist Sherri Aikenhead and is scheduled for release in January 2026. Banfield’s account covers years of abuse in her relationship with Wortman — who went on to kill 22 people and injure several others across multiple communities in Nova Scotia in April 2020 — and explores how she escaped the violence and rebuilt her life.
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Her memoir is not only a personal narrative of trauma and survival, but also intended as a call to action to improve societal responses to domestic violence and support for survivors. The Nova Scotia attacks began when Wortman assaulted Banfield at their cottage in Portapique, setting off a killing spree that lasted more than 13 hours and left communities deeply scarred.
Banfield’s forthcoming book adds to a growing body of survivor-focused literature that seeks to shed light on the often hidden realities of abusive relationships and the challenges faced by those who live through them
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