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 companies say the facility will be sold to resolve the Competition Commissioner of Canada's concerns about the implication on the purchase of wood fibre from the Thompson/Okanagan region in British Columbia.
The area is under an evacuation order because of flooding in the nearby Sumas River. Police-enforced roadblocks have been set up around the area to prevent people from coming or going.
The Mounties say in a statement they responded to a crash on Highway 97C south of Logan Lake around 12:15 p.m. Thursday. They say the crash was between a large utility vehicle and a passenger vehicle carrying the child, whose age was not released.
There are 3,345 active cases of COVID-19 in the province, and 208,284 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 355 individuals are currently in hospital and 110 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
The federal government has scheduled a media briefing with officials at 10 a.m. Friday to share news regarding authorization of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for children.
The RCMP wouldn't confirm Thursday if arrests had been made. A spokesperson for protesters who set up a blockade along the road said in a video posted online that officers had read out the injunction order and then began arresting people.
