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.
Security expert Wesley Wark says declaring a public order emergency under the never-used law would give the government power to control streets near the Hill now jammed with vehicles.
Bill Barisoff told the B.C. Supreme Court trial of the former clerk of the legislature Craig James that he only saw some documents connected with benefits after the RCMP began investigating James, and when letters and memos were sent to him by the Crown.
Currently, there is no access to 176 Street south of 8th Avenue. In addition, 0 Avenue is blocked at 184 Street to westbound traffic. Police continue to work with area residents to keep the neighborhood near the border to local traffic only.
On January 9, 2022, just after 6:30 a.m., Burnaby RCMP received a call from an Uber driver reporting that he had been assault by a passenger near Manchester Drive and Government Street in North Burnaby. When police arrived, the suspect was no longer on scene.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is consulting the premiers about using the Emergencies Act as antigovernment blockades continue to paralyze Ottawa and shutter multiple border crossings with the United States.
Henry is about 30 kilograms lighter than when they left Nov. 27 to find a camp in the Fairy Creek area where people were protesting old-growth logging.
