Ottawa, June 24 (IANS) Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has denied meddling in an investigation into the 2020 mass shooting, the worst the country's history.
Brenda Lucki, head of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), has been accused of pressuring local officers to help advance Trudeau's gun control plans, the BBC quoted the Halifax Examiner as saying, which was the first to report on the development.
According to the Halifax Examiner, the accusation stemmed from notes made by a local RCMP officer, released as part of a public investigation into the mass shooting on April 18-19, 2020, during which a gunman posing as a police officer killed 22 people in Nova Scotia.
The suspect died in a stand-off with police.
Addressing reporters on Thursday, Trudeau said that his government "did not put any undo influence or pressure" on police.
"It is extremely important to highlight that it is only the RCMP, it is only police that determine what and when to release information," the BBC quoted the Prime Minister as saying.
Denying the accusations, Commissioner Lucki said in a statement released on Tuesday that information sharing between the federal government and police is normal during a high-profile event such as a mass shooting.
The RCMP chief however acknowledged that she "should have been more sensitive" in her approach.
Canada's opposition Conservative Party has called for a debate in the House of Commons, and a parliamentary committee voted on Thursday to hold a hearing into the matter.
In the wake of the deadliest rampage in Canadian history, Prime Minister Trudeau in May 2020 announced an immediate ban on the sale, transportation, importation, or use of some 1,500 makes and models of "military-grade assault-style" weapons.
Police renewed warnings to downtown Ottawa protesters to get out of the parliamentary precinct Wednesday, this time with the federal Emergencies Act in their arsenal. Officers walked along Wellington Street handing out notices to protesters encamped there, telling them they "must leave the area now."
Canada and the United States ratified the Pacific Salmon Treaty in 1985 to manage cross-border harvesting,but it wasn't designed to deal with climate change and stocks that are in crisis, said Greg Knox, executive director of SkeenaWild Conservation Trust based in Terrace, B.C.
Inside the vehicle was a deceased female body that had sustained injuries consistent with homicide. The female victim was dentified as Bhavkiran (Kiran) Dhesi, 19 of Surrey.
Abbotsford Police Investigating a Homicide on Simon Ave. Victim is a 30-year-old male. Investigators are in the early stages. No information to suggest the public is at risk.
There are 787 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 and 124 are in intensive care. In the past 24 hours, two new deaths (Northern Health) have been reported, for an overall total of 2,766.
Police say the 61-year-old Kunik died in February 2017 after being stabbed repeatedly while he was alone on the Stanley Park seawall. The department says Lagimodiere was arrested 11 months after the death.
