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 BC Prosecution Service has approved charges of sexual assault and sexual interference against Sangris, related to an incident on August 13. VPD is continuing to investigate the possibility of any connections between that incident and other unsolved gropings in the area.
Program spending, excluding net actuarial losses, totalled $39.1 billion in June, down from $51.3 billion a year earlier. Revenue increased to $29.6 billion for the month, up from $19.9 billion in June last year.
Canada's military mission in Afghanistan ended that day, leaving an unknown number of Canadians and their families trapped, as well as vulnerable Afghans who fear Taliban reprisals.
During a stop in Mississauga, Ont., Justin Trudeau says a re-elected Liberal government would procure enough vaccines to ensure all Canadians have access to free COVID-19 booster shots and any needed second-generation vaccines.
The Ministry of Health says in a statement that people who were not fully vaccinated accounted for 82.4 per cent of all COVID-19 cases and 86.4 per cent of hospitalizations between Aug. 11 and Tuesday this week.
