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.
Students grade 4 to 12, staff, teachers, visitors and administers will be required to wear masks in school when classes return in September in BC. Education Minister Jennifer Whiteside says it will be full, in person learning. The mask mandate is for indoor spaces, like last school year. Extra curriculars will be back.
Fire information officer Taylor Colman says crews are seeing between three and five fires start each day compared with about 40 in July. She says most of the wildfires of note — including White Rock Lake at about 810 square kilometres and Lytton Creek at 845 square kilometres — have not seen much growth.
Scientists are most worried about old-growth forests in fire areas, which are home to the Canada lynx, the marten, fishers, caribou and northern goshawk, she said.
The prosecution service says in a statement that Const. Lacey Browning faces one count of assault after a wellness check in Kelowna on Jan. 20, 2020. A civil lawsuit was settled this year between Browning and Mona Wang, who was a nursing student at the University of British Columbia's Okanagan campus.
There are 5,056 active cases of COVID-19 in the province and 153,627 people who tested positive have recovered. Of the active cases, 133 individuals are in hospital and 80 are in intensive care. The remaining people are recovering at home in self-isolation.
UPDATE: The RCMP is pleased to confirm that the 14 year-old youth that was reported missing on August 23, 2021, has been located, and she is safe and sound. Thanks to the media and public for your assistance. The original release has been deleted from our social account.
