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 spokeswoman for $10-a-day child care at the Coalition of Child Care Advocates for British Columbia said she is celebrating this week after Ontario became the final province to sign on to the federal government's national daycare plan, which promises $30 billion in new spending over five years.
There are 276 individuals hospitalized with COVID-19 and 43 are in intensive care. In the past 24 hours, six new deaths have been reported, for an overall total of 2,996.
The first Vancouver incident occurred around 6:45 p.m. at the Marine Gateway Liquor Store, near Southwest Marine Drive and Cambie Street. The employee called 9-1-1, and the suspect fled before getting any money. About half an hour later, the same man entered the London Drugs at Granville and Georgia streets and allegedly demanded cash.
In 2019, B.C. was the first jurisdiction in North America to adopt the declaration, which requires governments to obtain free, prior and informed consent before taking actions that affect Indigenous Peoples and their lands.
On March 22nd, Richmond RCMP arrested two suspects and executed search warrants, which offered evidence to suggest the two were part of a sophisticated gold fraud operation.
