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.
British Columbia’s provincial health officer has extended the mask mandate that requires masks be worn in all indoor public spaces throughout B.C. The previous order, which was set to expire on Oct. 31, 2021, has been extended to continue to slow the transmission of COVID-19.
On October 29, 2021, at 1:00 p.m. the Surrey RCMP received a report that a male was shot at a residence in the 11100 block of 136th Street. Upon attendance, police located a male suffering from a possible gunshot injury.
Residents who leave their remote communities to access essential services need not be vaccinated to board a plane, Omar Alghabra told a news conference outside Toronto International Pearson Airport.
The task force, assembled by the D.C.-based Wilson Center, says a risk-management approach to the border would have been less disruptive and damaging than the "zero-risk" approach that was adopted.
A statement from the board says 726 commercial properties sold in the Lower Mainland between April and June, a nearly 115 per cent increase from sales in the same period last year.
The concierge was working at a hotel on Robson Street on October 8 when he confronted a man who had entered the parkade and was peering into cars. The man pulled out a knife and allegedly threatened the hotel employee, before fleeing out to the street.
