(Halifax) Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Brenda Lucki initially recommended that the federal government not share information about the types of firearms used in the mass shooting in Nova Scotia — a position she apparently changed a few days later.
Posted at 9:09 p.m.
Emails released Monday by a public inquiry indicate that Mme Lucki wrote to then-Public Safety Minister Bill Blair’s chief of staff and deputy on April 23, 2020, four days after the gunman killed 22 people using multiple firearms.
She lists the names of two semi-automatic pistols and two semi-automatic rifles used by the killer, and says the information should not be sent further than the prime minister and the minister, as the information is “directly related to this ongoing investigation.
However, during a press conference on April 28, the position of Mme Lucki changed, as she seemed unhappy that RCMP Superintendent Darren Campbell refused to provide reporters with details of the weapons.
That afternoon, she commented in an email to Minister Blair’s chief of staff that Mr Campbell’s refusal to release the information was “not the execution I expected”.
Mr Blair and the Prime Minister’s Office are accused of pressuring Mrme Lucki for her to share details about the type of weapons used by the shooter. Two RCMP officials, including Mr. Campbell, alleging that Mr.me Lucki had told them the information was related to upcoming gun legislation.
Drama recovered?
After the allegations surfaced during the public inquiry into the April 18-19, 2020 mass shooting, the Conservatives and New Democratic Party (NDP) accused the Liberals of using tragedy to advance their politics of gun control.
Brenda Lucki acknowledged in a statement that she had “expressed her frustration with the flow of information” during a meeting with the Nova Scotia RCMP in the hours following the April 28 press conference. .
However, Bill Blair and Mme Lucki both denied there was pressure to release a list of weapons used in the shooting. In fact, neither they nor the Nova Scotia RCMP released this information to the public until it was reported by the media in November 2020.
Some firearms and criminal investigation experts have suggested that lost in partisan bickering is the issue of the public’s right to know the firearms in question.
AJ Somerset, the author of a book on gun culture, told The Canadian Press that people who knew they had been involved in selling a gun with the shooter in the shooting would avoid any contact with the police, whether the details of the weapons were released or not.
The Public Inquiry recently issued further subpoenas to the RCMP following concerns that federal police withheld documents. The public inquiry continues to “seek assurance that nothing else is being concealed,” lead commission counsel Emily Hill said in a previous email.
The government announced the ban on assault weapons on 1er May 2020, after Cabinet approved an Order in Council enacting the changes.