The federal department of justice held back notes of RCMP superintendent Darren Campbell documenting commissioner Brenda Lucki’s demand to release information at the behest of the Trudeau government.
According to the Mass Casualty Commission, an independent commission tasked with investigating the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting, the four pages documenting Campbell’s meeting with Lucki were missing when the federal government first sent Campbell’s handwritten notes in Feb 2022.
The CBC reports that the commission had to wait months until the federal government handed them the complete package of Campbell’s notes where he detailed the RCMP commissioner’s demands.
Notes taken from a meeting between commissioner Lucki and other high-ranking RCMP officers show that Lucki had demanded the RCMP release the specifications of the shooter’s gun at the behest of then-public safety minister Bill Blair and Liberal’s gun restriction regime.
In a statement provided to CBC, the Department of Justice claimed that the four pages were withheld to review them before releasing them – information that DOJ did not initially give the commission.
“Department of Justice counsel should have done so and will work with the Commission to establish a process for review.”
Prime minister Justin Trudeau refuted the claim that the Liberals had pressured the RCMP commissioner.
“We did not put any undue influence or pressure. It is extremely important to highlight that it is only the RCMP, it is only police that determine what and when to release information,” Trudeau said.
During Question Period, Bill Blair echoed a similar message to the prime minister’s — that the Liberals had not interfered and the Lucki is not at fault.
“I have absolutely no doubt the superintendent is an exemplary officer, and I don’t question his integrity in any way. I would simply remind this House that the fact is, that there was no interference in this matter,” Blair said.
