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 east side of the park was closed in May to allow remediation work after hundreds of campers were moved to indoor housing. The campers moved to Strathcona after being forced out of two other city parks.
During a virtual summit, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and his fellow G20 leaders discussed the crisis in Afghanistan created by the Taliban rout of Kabul's Western-backed government.
There are 5,183 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 186,955 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 357 individuals are in hospital and 153 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
Kareen Rispal, France's ambassador to Canada, said that in addition to unfinished business the two countries started before the COVID-19 pandemic, Macron wants to hear Trudeau's views on the alliance formed last month between the United States, Britain and Australia.
Health Minister Adrian Dix says 55 critically ill people have been transferred from the region to intensive care units elsewhere in the province and that 43 of them were infected with COVID-19, with all but one of them not being fully vaccinated.
On October 12, 2021, at 8:47 am, Surrey RCMP received a report of possible human skeletal remains located in bushes near 152 Street and 64 Avenue. City workers were in the area performing maintenance on the dyke when they discovered what they believed to be human skeletal remains.
