(OTTAWA) Former Public Safety Minister Bill Blair admits his cabinet worked with the RCMP on the Liberal bill to toughen gun control, announced in May 2020, but he says those conversations weren’t had “no connection” to discussions of the Nova Scotia killings.
Updated yesterday at 8:18 p.m.
Mr. Blair was once again answering questions on Wednesday about conversations he had with Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) Commissioner Brenda Lucki in the days following the April 2020 killings, and he had pressured her to have the RCMP disclose the type of weapons used by the killer.
Allegations of Liberal government interference were raised in documents filed as evidence at the public inquiry into the shooting. These include handwritten notes from Nova Scotia RCMP Superintendent Darren Campbell and a letter to Commissioner Lucki written by RCMP Director of Strategic Communications Lia Scanlan.
Both Mr. Blair and Ms. Lucki have denied that the Liberal government pressured federal police to disclose the nature of the weapons used in the killings. They also assure that neither they nor the RCMP in Nova Scotia released this information to the public before it was reported by the media in November 2020.
For Bill Blair, the RCMP was simply an integral part of the effort to coordinate the operation leading to the establishment of a new framework for the possession of firearms in the country.
“Obviously the RCMP was involved in these discussions from the beginning because they are responsible for administering the Canadian Firearms Program,” Blair said.
Criminologist Michael Arntfield, himself a former police officer, argues that if there had been interference, it is unclear how it would have impacted police operations or the course of the investigation.
But more importantly, he says, the “crusty political scandal” is currently distracting from what must be at the heart of the commission’s investigation into the killings: why and how a man dressed as a police officer was able to escape the police and continue to kill for more than 13 hours with illegal weapons.
The Conservatives accused the Liberals of using the tragedy to impose their political agenda. NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh added last week that it was unacceptable for a government to use this terrible killing to build support for its gun bill.
However, from a survivor’s perspective, you can see things differently.
Heidi Rathjen was a student at École Polytechnique de Montréal in December 1989 when the tragedy occurred, in which 14 women were killed and 14 others injured. In his opinion, the reaction to the killings should be “political and immediate”.
“Conservatives and pro-gun lobbies got fired up claiming the executive orders were some kind of opportunistic political strategy that exploited a tragedy, when for the majority of Canadians, banning assault weapons is the right thing to do. to prevent killings,” she commented in an emailed response to The Canadian Press.
“If it took a tragedy to force the government to act on long-awaited gun control, it looks more like a sad political statement, but it is surely a good thing for the safety of the population” , she added.
Ms. Rathjen, who heads the PolySeSouvient group, says she would have “loved” to see the government react immediately after what happened at the Polytechnique.
“Unfortunately, it took six years of struggle to see reasonable gun control legislation passed and the families of the victims are still fighting for a total ban on assault weapons three decades later. »
A memorial ceremony for Officer Heidi Stevenson
A regimental memorial service in memory of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) officer who was among the 22 people killed in the 2020 mass shootings in Nova Scotia was held in Halifax on Wednesday.
Many people moved, crowding along the route leading to the ceremony site to greet the procession in honor of Constable Heidi Stevenson. RCMP and city police officers marched to the sound of drums and bagpipes as a hearse carried the urn containing the policewoman’s ashes to the Cole Harbor Place sports centre.
Heidi Stevenson’s memorial service was delayed by the RCMP due to COVID-19 restrictions, although a family funeral was held on April 24, 2020, five days after the massacre.
On Wednesday, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki said at the ceremony that Constable Stevenson will always be remembered for “her courage and strength of character.” She added that the police force will remember her “heroism (on the day of the tragedy) and the bravery she showed as well as the actions she took to protect the community that was so close to her heart”.
The public inquiry into the mass shooting has learned that Officer Stevenson was heading to the location where a colleague was injured on April 19, 2020, when her fatal encounter with the killer happened on an interchange highway about 60 kilometers north of Halifax.
The 48-year-old officer was killed in an exchange of gunfire with the killer, who deliberately drove into the oncoming lane in his mock RCMP car to crash into the patrol vehicle.
Also according to the documents revealed during the public inquiry, fragments of bullets fired by Heidi Stevenson’s weapon would “probably” hit the killer in the head. The presence of blood on his forehead would have put a flea in the ear of another officer who crossed his path about 35 minutes later at a gas station, where he shot him to put an end to the murderous escape.
It was also revealed that Constable Stevenson had asked at 8:44 a.m., the morning of the tragedy, that the public be advised to beware as the killer was driving a replica of an RCMP patrol vehicle. No one would have responded to his request.
During Wednesday’s ceremony, four friends of the victim highlighted his strong personality and strong sense of justice.
Her longtime friend, Angela McKnight, described Mme Stevenson as a “tough woman” who preferred RCMP to kinesiology and had developed her physical strength playing rugby in college.
Heidi surrounded herself with strong women dedicated to supporting each other. I don’t know a better woman…stronger, more determined than her.
Among the crowd observing the procession, several interviewees expressed their admiration for the policewoman who left behind her husband and their two children.
Heidi Stevenson grew up in Antigonish, Nova Scotia and attended university in the province. She served 23 years in the RCMP, developing expertise in narcotics reconnaissance, patrol and communications.