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.
Lennard Skead, of Brandon, Man., says he received a negative COVID-19 test on Saturday but wasn't allowed to leave a Toronto quarantine hotel until the next day, when he was notified by a quarantine officer.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth says the lifting of the provincial 30-litre purchase order will occur as soon as the pipeline system is able resume full service, but until then, fuel limits will remain in place until Dec. 14.
Upon the fire being extinguished by Abbotsford Fire Rescue Service, human remains were located within the vehicle. Abbotsford Police Patrol Officers, Major Crime Detectives, and the Forensic Identification Unit remain on the scene. Officers are in the initial stages of this investigation and there are no further details at this time.
Unlike the CH-148 Cyclone, the S-92 does not have a folding tail boom, a feature that allows the Cyclone to fit inside the small hangars aboard Canada's fleet of Halifax-class frigates.
A lawyer for Jaskirat Singh Sidhu, 33, had sent a voluminous amount of paperwork to the Canada Border Services Agency earlier this year arguing why he should be allowed to stay in Canada once his sentence has been served. Sidhu was sentenced to eight years after pleading guilty to dangerous driving causing death and bodily harm in the April 2018 collision that killed 16 people and injured 13.
Metro Vancouver residents woke up to the first snowfall of the season on Monday. As the flurries were falling, Air Canada gave aheads up to all travellers to give themselves plenty of time as the snow might cause flight disruptions.
