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 male, who was suffering from life-threatening injuries, was transported to the Royal Columbian Hospital where lifesaving interventions continued; however, he did not survive. IHIT has assumed conduct of this investigation and will be working in partnership with the New Westminster Police Major Crime Unit to gather evidence and determine motive.
The survey suggests at least 1,016,669 doses have been rejected since vaccines first arrived last December. That's about 2.6 per cent of the entire supply delivered to the provinces and territories that provided their numbers.
Restaurant operators in British Columbia's southern Interior are scrambling after flooding and landslides closed highways and rail lines, cutting businesses off from the supply chains they rely on. It's the latest hurdle after 20 months of struggles through the COVID-19 pandemic and a summer of smoky skies from wildfires that wiped out tourism.
Health Canada has approved the first COVID-19 vaccine for children aged five to 11 in Canada, and the first shipment of doses is expected to arrive in the country by Sunday. Pfizer and its partner BioNTech submitted a request for approval of a child-sized dose of its mRNA vaccine for COVID-19 on Oct. 18.
Barkad Khan wiped away tears Thursday as he made another "frustrating" visit to one of the emergency reception centres set up to help residents from Merritt, B.C., who have been forced from their homes due to unprecedented flooding. Khan said he and his family, wife Afreen and daughters Mahveen and Mahira, were given just 10 minutes to get out before their home was flooded.
Public Safety Minister Mike Farnworth has indicated that measures could include an order preventing passage for all but essential travellers as limited access is slowly restored along some highways.
