The UNHCR released documents and notes Tuesday that included a conversation with Commissioner Lucki and RCMP officials overseeing the Nova Scotia investigation into the killing of 22 people by a lone gunman. In a teleconference on April 28, ten days after the worst mass murder in Canadian history, Ms. Lucky condemned senior commanders for leaking information about the weapons used in the attack – telling them the details could be used for Prime Minister Justin Trinto’s weapon – control agenda. In the notes submitted to the investigation, RCMP Superintendent Darren Campbell described how the commissioner reprimanded him extensively. She said she was upset because she had “promised the Minister of Public Security and the Prime Minister’s Office” that the RCMP would reveal details about the type of firearms used by the gunman. Supt. Campbell’s notes make it clear that he was concerned that the policy might interfere with a cross-border police investigation. His remarks indicate that Commissioner Lucki explained that the RCMP in Nova Scotia needed to understand that the release of the information “was related to pending arms control legislation that would make officers and the public safer from or through this legislation”. . The gunman, however, never had a firearms license and smuggled three guns to Canada from Maine. “The Commissioner accused us (me) of not respecting her because we did not follow her instructions. “I was and still am confused by this,” he wrote. “I said we could not because that would jeopardize the ongoing efforts to advance the American side of the case as well as the Canadian components of the investigation. “These are facts and I stand by them.” Ms. Lucki was appointed Chief Law Enforcement Officer by Prime Minister Justin Trinto in June 2018. Opposition lawmakers have accused the Liberal government of meddling in criminal investigations for political purposes. Emergency Preparedness Secretary Bill Blair, who was public security minister at the time, denied on Tuesday that any political direction had been given to the RCMP Commissioner. Ms. Lucky issued a statement Tuesday afternoon saying she had never compromised the investigation. He did not comment on the allegations made by Mr Blair and the Office of the Prime Minister, but only commented on the situation with Nova Scotia’s RCMP. “I did not interfere in the ongoing investigation into the largest mass murder in Canadian history,” he wrote, saying it was a “standard procedure” for Mountie’s top to share information and briefings with the minister overseeing the RCMP. However, Ms. Lucky said she mishandled discussions with commanders in charge of the investigation. “It was a tense discussion and I’m sorry about the way I approached the meeting and the impact it had on those present. “My need for information should have been better balanced in relation to the seriousness of the circumstances they were facing,” he said. During questioning in the House of Commons, Mr Blair insisted that the government had never tried to use mass shootings to advance its arms control agenda. “I am very pleased to confirm that no one in the Prime Minister’s Office or in the Office of Public Security has put any pressure or direction on the RCMP commissioner,” he said. The PMO did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Conservative public safety critic Raquel Dancho said Canadians should not accept Mr Blair’s assurances that there was no political interference. “We have seen this again during the SNC-Lavalin scandal where the Trinto government also denied any wrongdoing. This is a pattern. “We have to get to the bottom of it and investigate it immediately.” NDP leader Jagmeet Singh also called for a “full investigation” into the matter. “Allegations that the Office of the Prime Minister or the Office of the Secretary of Public Security have asked RCMP Commissioner Lucki to intervene in an ongoing police investigation are” very worrying, “Singh said in a statement. “The idea that this government – that any government – would use this horrific act of mass murder to gain support for its weapons policy is completely unacceptable. “Not only is this inappropriate, but it fuels cynicism about our democracy and the elected officials involved.” Mr Singh said any inquiry into the matter should not be used to “gain political points” but to get answers to the victims. The types of weapons used by the perpetrator were not disclosed in the five press conferences that took place in the week following the mass shooting. The RCMP had found several firearms, including two semi-automatic rifles, from the stolen car the gunman was driving when he was shot by two Mountains at a gas station north of Halifax on April 19, 2020. In May 2020, the month after the mass shooting, the Trinto government introduced the C-21 bill, which included a national freeze on the sale, purchase or transfer of weapons to Canada and the introduction of newly acquired firearms into the country. The RCMP investigation later learned that the killer paid an American known as Neil Gallivan to buy an assault rifle at a gun show in 2019 in Hilton, Maine and took two illegal weapons from another US friend, Sean Conlogue.
