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 province's Conservation Officer Service says in a social media post that a man walking on a trail near the southwest side of the park was nipped on the leg Tuesday night.
Data from the Ministry of Forests and Emergency Management BC show 291 wildfires were blazing in the province late Wednesday and more than 8,500 square kilometres of land has been lost since the start of the fire season on April 1.
On August 13, 2021 at 4:43 pm, Surrey RCMP officers came upon a two-vehicle collision between a black Dodge Charger and a Ducati motorcyle at the intersection of 70A Avenue and King George Boulevard. The driver of the motorcycle was taken to the hospital with a life-altering injury.
“These girls were all near the seawall when a stranger on a bike grabbed them from behind and sexually assaulted them,” says Sergeant Steve Addison, VPD. “Each victim did the right thing by telling a trusted adult and reporting the incidents to police so an investigation could be launched immediately.”
82.8% (3,837,946) of eligible people 12 and older in B.C. have received their first dose of COVID-19 vaccine and 73.8% (3,419,832) received their second dose.
The country's headline inflation barometer clocked in at 3.7 per cent in July, which Statistics Canada said was the highest year-over-year increase since May 2011 as price growth accelerated from June.
