RCMP Commissioner Brenda Luckey initially recommended the federal government not share information about the types of weapons used in the Nova Scotia mass shooting — a position she apparently reversed days later.
Emails released today through a public inquiry show that Luckey wrote to then Public Safety Minister Bill Blair, Chief of Staff and Deputy Minister on April 23, 2020, four days after a gunman killed 22 people using multiple firearms weapons.
Read more: Nova Scotia mass shooting – Blair ‘of course’ to stay in cabinet amid allegations of meddling
She listed the names of two semi-automatic handguns and two semi-automatic rifles that the killer used and said the information should not be sent further than the prime minister and the minister because the information was “directly related to this active investigation.”
However, during the April 28 press conference, Lucky’s position changed as she appeared displeased that RCMP Supt. Darren Campbell declined to provide reporters with details about the weapons.
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She commented in an email to Blair’s chief of staff that afternoon that Campbell’s refusal to disclose the information was “not the execution I expected”.
Blair and the Prime Minister’s Office are accused of pressuring Luckey to reveal details about the type of weapons used by the shooter, with two RCMP officers – including Campbell – claiming Luckey told them the information was related to the upcoming gun legislation.
After the allegations surfaced at the public inquiry into the April 18-19 mass shooting, conservatives and the NDP accused the Liberals of using a tragedy to advance their gun control policies.
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Luckey acknowledged in a statement that she “expressed frustration with the flow of information” at a meeting with the Nova Scotia RCMP in the hours after the April 28 news conference.
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However, both Blair and Luckey denied that there was any pressure to release a list of the weapons used in the shooting, and in fact neither they nor the Nova Scotia RCMP disclosed this information to the public before it was reported by the media in November 2020. .
Some gun and criminal investigation experts suggest that the issue of the public’s right to know about the firearms in question has been lost in the partisan bickering.
Read more: Luckey cites ‘pressure’ from Blair amid Nova Scotia shooting probe – RCMP officer
AJ Somerset, author of a book on gun culture, told the Canadian Press that people who knew they were involved in selling guns to the mass murderer would avoid contact with police, regardless of whether details about the guns were revealed.
However, the public inquiry recently issued additional subpoenas to the RCMP, following concerns that federal police had withheld documents. The public inquiry continues to “seek assurance that nothing else has been withheld,” Emily Hill, the committee’s senior counsel, said in an email last week.
The government announced a ban on combat arms on 1 May 2020 after Cabinet approved an Order in Council introducing the changes.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 11, 2022.
© 2022 The Canadian Press
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