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 community was alerted to this suspicious vehicle through a news release issued on May 3, 2022, which prompted other local residents to report their own encounters with the vehicle, driven by a woman.
Three people were killed and 14 others had life-threatening injuries after the big-wheel red-and-white Ice Explorer lost control on the road to the Athabasca Glacier, about 100 kilometres southeast of Jasper, Alta., on July 18, 2020.
Alert Ready is a tool used by governments across the country to broadcast warnings on radio and television stations, as well as compatible wireless devices.
On Thursday, May 12, Burnaby RCMP received a report that a driver was seen masturbating inside a vehicle while at a red light beside a westbound 136 bus on Lougheed Highway near Gaglardi Way around 3:55 p.m. A teenage victim on the bus took video of the suspect, which has been provided to police.
The male was sitting on a bench at a bend in the pathway on the Spirit Trail in Waterfront Park, where it faces the water, and exposed himself as the woman walked past. The woman was physically unharmed in the incident.
The 15-year-old victim was walking in Pacific Centre Mall around 11:45 a.m. on May 8 when a man approached him from behind and leg-swept him to the ground. The alleged suspect fled after the assault, but was followed by mall security.
