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.
Moderna applied for authorization for youth in early June, citing a clinical trial of 3,700 youth in which none of the teens who got two doses developed a COVID-19 infection.
In a news release, police say investigators have found that the car was travelling at a speed "significantly greater" than the posted limit. Emergency services personnel were called out early Saturday after a car hit a tree.
Canadian taxpayer dollars have funded various projects that she has worked on that were designed to raise the rights of women and girls over the last 20 years.
Emergency Management BC says most of the blazes are in the Kamloops, southeast and Prince George fire centres. It says there are about 35 evacuation orders in place as well as 83 evacuation alerts, which means people should be ready to leave at short notice.
Three more people have died, while 159 people are in hospital and 84 of those are in intensive care. There are 5,657 active cases in the province and nearly 39 per cent of those are in the Interior Health region, where tougher restrictions were put in place this month.
Melanie Mark, the minister of tourism, arts, culture and sport, says events will be eligible to claim up to $250,000 with applications open until Oct. 1. The money can go toward operational costs, health and safety measures, venue rental, marketing, wages and promotion.
