Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair questions the Nova Scotia Mountie who suggested that Commissioner Brenda Lucki interfered in the investigation into the largest mass shooting in Canadian history.
The comments of the former citizen security minister come when the political storm around the head of the national police reaches a second day.
This explosive complaint was included in handwritten notes from the Nova Scotia supervisor. Darren Campbell, who was released Tuesday as part of the Mass Victims Commission investigation.
The commission is investigating the April 18-19, 2020 attack that claimed the lives of 22 people, including a pregnant woman, and left several people injured and several houses destroyed. The commission released a report on Tuesday on how the RCMP and the government communicated with the public about the incident.
TARGET | Bill Blair denies the government intervened in the investigation into the New York shooting:
The minister addresses claims of federal interference in the investigation into the NS mass shootings
Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair says the federal government has never been involved in talks between RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki and her subordinates on the investigation into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting.
In those notes, Campbell wrote that RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki was upset that the RCMP in Nova Scotia did not disclose further information about the weapons used because it had promised the federal government, which was considering control legislation. of weapons at the time, which would raise that.
“The superintendent obviously came to his own conclusions and his notes reflect that,” Blair told reporters on Wednesday.
“But I tell him, and I would tell the superintendent if I spoke to him, I made no effort to pressure the RCMP to interfere in any way with his investigation. I gave no indication as to what information they should communicate. These are operational decisions. of the RCMP and I respect it and I have respected it at all times. “
Lucki has also denied interfering in the investigation.
“As a police officer and commissioner of the RCMP, I would never take actions or decisions that could jeopardize an investigation,” Lucki wrote in a statement on Tuesday evening.
Lucki, seen speaking at a 2019 press conference in Ottawa, says she did not interfere in the investigation into the NS shooting. (Chris Wattie / The Canadian Press)
Although the statement did not directly address the claim that more information was sought to help the Liberals’ plans for arms control, Lucki wrote that briefings were needed with the Minister of Public Security, especially during a shootout. massive.
“I take the principle of police independence very seriously, and it has been and will continue to be fully respected in all interactions,” he wrote.
Blair, who was the public safety minister at the time of the shooting, said he has confidence in the commissioner, who was appointed by the Liberal government in 2018.
The new Minister of Public Security, Marco Mendicino, has said that he believes that the “principle of operational independence” is maintained. This stipulates that the RCMP committee is accountable to the Minister, but operationally independent and must be free from the direction or influence of elected officials when performing their basic law enforcement duties.
TARGET | The Minister of Public Security on the investigation of the mass shootings in NS:
Minister of Public Security on the investigation of a mass shooting in NS
Marco Mendicino reacts to the Conservatives by saying that the Liberal Liberal government interfered in the investigation into the Nova Scotia shooting. Liberals deny the allegations.
“Naturally, after that, there was a great deal of anxiety, a great deal of fear, a great sense of despair, anguish and loss, and Canadians had and continue to have a right to know what was going on. So in those moments, there was there will be an exchange of information, “Mendicino said Wednesday.
“There will be talks about what happened, and I think there is a responsibility on the part of both law enforcement and the government to be honest with Canadians, so there needs to be exchanges of information at the same time. these events “.
Conservatives believe Campbell: Bergen
Conservatives are calling for an urgent debate immediately and an inquiry by the House of Commons committee to get to the bottom of the allegations.
“It’s disgusting to know that the Prime Minister and his office would use the deaths of Canadians for their own political gain,” said interim Conservative leader Candice Bergen.
“Conservatives believe SD Darren Campell when he says that Brenda Lucki, the commissioner, pressured him, pressed the RCMP, and the reason he did it was because he had committed or had been pressured by the office of the Prime Minister and / or the Minister of Public Security “.
TARGET | Victims’ families face investigation into NS shooting:
The families of the angry victims were heard in the investigation into the NS shooting
Relatives of the victims of the NS shooting expressed frustration at how the RCMP managed to tell their loved ones what had happened to them. Meanwhile, a report questioned whether the RCMP’s top police officer had interfered with the release of any information due to promises in the prime minister’s office.
According to Campbell’s notes, Lucki’s alleged comments came during a meeting about a week after the shootings.
During a press conference, Campbell told reporters that the gunman had two semi-automatic pistols and two semi-automatic rifles.
He did not provide further details, but said so some of the weapons may have come from the United States and the Canada Border Services Agency was assisting with the investigation.
“The commissioner was obviously upset. She didn’t raise her voice, but her choice of words was indicative of her general dissatisfaction with our work,” Campbell wrote after meeting with Lucki on April 28th.
“The commissioner said she had promised the Minister of Public Security and the Prime Minister’s Office that the RCMP (us) would release this information,” Campbell continued.
Releasing gun information could hurt the case, according to the RCMP. he wrote
“I tried to explain that there was no intention to disrespect anyone, but we could not disclose this information at this time. which would make the agents and the public safer. “
Campbell wrote that he believed that disclosing information about firearms could hinder the investigation.
“I said we couldn’t because doing so would jeopardize the ongoing efforts to move forward on the U.S. side of the case, as well as the Canadian components of the investigation,” he wrote.
Shortly after that April 28 meeting, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a ban on some 1,500 brands and models of firearmsincluding two of the weapons used in the Nova Scotia mass shooting: a Colt Law Enforcement rifle, a semi-automatic weapon and a Ruger Mini-14.
TARGET | Did the government try to interfere with the investigation into the NS shooting?
Did the government try to interfere with an RCMP investigation into the Nova Scotia mass shooting?
A report released by a public inquiry into the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting suggests that RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki had promised the government that it would release information about the firearms used in the tragedy. MEPs Taleeb Noormohamed and Raquel Dancho spoke.
At that time, the police had not yet disclosed the specific brands and models used in the attacks. This information was not made public until the fall of 2020, when National Post reported details of weapons after obtaining an information note prepared for the Prime Minister after the shooting.
During an interview with CBC’s Power & Politics on May 1, 2020 to promote the arms ban, Blair said the RCMP would disclose more information about the weapons used in the shooting when it saw fit.
“I believe that the RCMP will most likely disclose the information of your investigation when it has concluded and at the time it deems appropriate. I will not advance them in this, “he said.
When asked if he was suggesting that the weapons be obtained legally, Blair said the weapons are relevant to the Liberal’s ban.
“Let me be very clear, the weapons used in this crime are very relevant to the work we have done today,” he said. “And I think Canadians will understand it better when that information is available.”
“The weapons used in this crime are very relevant to the work we have done today.” pic.twitter .com / yGWZCr1aAy
– @ PnPCBC
Investigators say they believe the gunman, Gabriel Wortman, who did not have a firearms license, obtained three of the weapons used during the Maine massacre and smuggled them into Canada.
Mounted “reduced to tears” at the meeting: Campbell
About the meeting with Lucki, Campbell wrote that some in the room “were reduced to tears and moved by this despicable rebuke.”
In her statement on Tuesday, Lucki said she regretted her behavior at the meeting, which she said was convened to discuss a number of issues, including the flow of information to the RCMP’s national headquarters and the public disclosure of information.
“It was a tense discussion and I regret the way I approached the meeting and the impact it had on the attendees,” he said.
“My need for information should have been better weighed against the seriousness of the circumstances I was experiencing. I should have been more sensitive in my approach. If I had led the meeting in a different way, these employees they would have felt more supported during …