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.
VPD officers were called to Crab Park around 10.20 a.m. Saturday for reports of one man being assaulted. Andrew Wadden, a 45-year-old Vancouver resident, was found by police in the park with life-threatening injuries.
The B.C. government says in a statement the report's submission had previously been due May 20, but the extension is a result of several members of the Cullen Commission inquiry team contracting COVID-19.
The unemployment rate came in at 5.2 per cent for April compared with the previous record low of 5.3 per cent set in March. Bank of Montreal chief economist Doug Porter said the moderate gain in employment is a sign of much more normal conditions, but also one where the supply of new workers may be beginning to be the binding constraint on growth.
The Public Health Agency of Canada and Statistics Canada have launched a survey to try to get a broad idea of how common it is for people to feel lingering effects after COVID-19 infection, which can be difficult to identify and even harder to track.
VPD officers were responding to reports of an assault with a weapon inside the Patricia Hotel, at East Hastings and Dunlevy Avenue, just after 4 p.m. Thursday, when they were confronted by a man. An altercation ensued and shots were fired.
The driver of the dump truck and trailer unit stayed at the scene and police say impairment is not believed to have been a factor. Burnaby RCMP’s criminal collision investigation team is leading the case.
