Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair and RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki told a House of Commons committee Monday that they did not interfere with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s investigation into the shooting 2020 mass in Nova Scotia.
“Let me start, and let me be clear. I did not interfere with the investigation into this tragedy,” Lucki told members of the House of Commons public safety and national security committee.
“Specifically, I was not directed to publicly release information about the weapons used by the author to help advance pending gun control legislation.”
Controversy erupted last month when the Mass Casualty Commission investigating the tragedy released documents that included handwritten notes from RCMP Supt. Darren Campbell. Those memos allege that Lucki tried to get investigators to publicly reveal the weapons the gunman used.
The memos also say Lucki indicated he promised Blair and the prime minister’s office that the RCMP would release this information and that it was tied to pending gun control legislation aimed at making officers safer and public
Campbell’s memos suggest the government wanted public information to further its gun control agenda. Shortly after the tragedy, the government introduced legislation to ban 1,500 types of assault firearms.
Lucki told the committee the controversy was the result of miscommunication between her and the Nova Scotia RCMP.
Before an RCMP press conference on April 28, 2020, Lucki said, federal government officials asked him what items of information police would reveal at the briefing.
“I provided information to the government about what would be released,” Lucki told committee members.
“At the time, I was asked if the weapons information would be included. When my communications team told me it would be, I took that information back to Minister Blair’s chief of staff and the Deputy Public Safety Minister.”
Federal Emergency Preparedness Minister Bill Blair says he didn’t pressure RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki to get the Mounties to release details about the weapons in the gunman’s possession during the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia . (Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press)
But the Nova Scotia RCMP later told Lucki that information about the weapons would not be released at the news conference.
“I felt he had misinformed the minister and by extension the prime minister,” Lucki told the commission.
Lucki said that while he may have used the word “promise” in a call with officers after the news conference, he did not make a formal promise to government officials about the type of information the RCMP would reveal .
She said communications between the Nova Scotia RCMP and herself were not up to par and expressed regret for how she handled the call with her subordinates.
RCMP under public pressure to release details of shooting: Blair, Lucki
In his testimony, Blair denied ever asking Lucki to pressure the RCMP to release the weapons used.
“I did not ask the RCMP commissioner to release this information, nor did he promise to do so,” Blair said.
He added that the RCMP was under public pressure to release more information about the massacre, which claimed 22 lives and was the deadliest in Canadian history.
Lucki said the government pressed her for more details about the shooting.
“Was there pressure from the federal government to get information about this incident? Yes,” he said, adding that it was not surprising given the severity of the event.
But Lucki said most of the pressure to reveal more information came from the media.
Blair repeatedly denied any pressure came from him.
Lia Scanlan, the former director of communications for the Nova Scotia RCMP, said in a letter released last month that Lucki was under pressure after talks with Blair.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has said that the government did not put any “improper” pressure on the RCMP.
Blair declined to answer questions about why the Prime Minister’s comments on the matter differed from his own.
The controversy has raised questions about how much influence the federal government should have over the RCMP commissioner.
The RCMP Act states that the Commissioner of the RCMP “has the control and management of the force and all matters relating to the force,” but “under the direction of the Minister.” [of public safety].”
Blair said he knows where the line is when it comes to politicians running police operations, citing his career as a police officer and his decade as Toronto’s police chief.
“It’s a line I’m quite familiar with. I spent many years as a police chief,” Blair told the committee, saying he would never try to influence or direct a police investigation.