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.
A fourth wave of COVID-19 now surging across the United Kingdom doesn't have to become a reality in Canada as long as people keep getting vaccinated as quickly as possible, some infectious disease experts say.
Trudeau is scheduled to start the day behind closed doors in Metro Vancouver discussing B.C.'s wildfires and recent punishing heat wave with members of his cabinet's Incident Response Group.
A recent heat wave in Western Canada that blew past records and contributed to hundreds of deaths could not have happened without climate change, an international group of scientists has concluded.
The first Canadian victim identified in the collapse of a South Florida condominium is a former Montrealer. Ingrid "Itty" Ainsworth, 66, died in the collapse in late June along with her husband Tzvi, 68.
Gabriel Klein was convicted of second-degree murder and aggravated assault in March 2020 in the attack that killed Letisha Reimer, 13, and seriously injured her friend, whose name is protected by a publication ban.
A Toronto-based privacy lawyer says businesses across Canada are considering putting policies in place that would require customers to provide proof of COVID-19 vaccination before receiving service.
