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.
The British Columbia government says it is immediately providing a grant of $1 million to support the Village of Lytton as it recovers from a destructive wildfire last summer. The fast-moving fire razed much of the Fraser Canyon community on June 30, just one day after the temperature there hit an all-time Canadian high of 49.6 Celsius.
There are 2,874 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 215,884 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 224 individuals are currently in hospital and 77 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
British Columbia's seniors advocate is calling for a provincewide approach for reporting seniors abuse amid complaints that are "significantly rising." Isobel Mackenzie says there is a clear five-year pattern of increasing reports of seniors abuse and neglect, but the fragmented reporting system suggests the problem could be more widespread.
Canada will join a diplomatic boycott of the Winter Olympics in Beijing next year, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced Wednesday. The decision comes two days after the United States announced it would send government officials to the Olympics over concerns about China's human rights record.
Immigration Minister Sean Fraser says the government predicts it could take two years to fulfil its promise of bringing 40,000 Afghan refugees to Canada. The minister said the government is facing challenges in Afghanistan and other countries where refugees have fled but is trying to get them to Canada urgently.
The Royal Canadian Air Force issued a statement saying Sikorsky Aircraft, the U.S.-based manufacturer of the aircraft, has devised a fix that involves the installation of reinforcements to provide additional strength to the helicopter's airframe.
