OTTAWA — RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki says there was poor communication between her office and Nova Scotia Mounties in the days following the shooting spree that left 22 people dead in April 2020.
“It was for this reason I called the meeting (on April 28) to express my frustration and disappointment,” she told the House of Commons public safety committee Monday.
“It needed to happen. It was essential that I had more timely and accurate information.”
Lucki said she did not interfere in the investigation, but that part of her frustration with the Nova Scotia division was because she was told by her communications team that information about the firearms used by the gunman would be released during an April 28, 2020, public briefing.
As a result, Lucki said, she confirmed to then-public safety minister Bill Blair that details of the weapons would be released publicly. When that didn’t happen, “I felt I had misinformed the minister and by extension the prime minister,” Lucki said.
The public safety committee is looking into allegations the federal government was meddling in the police investigation.
Then-Supt. Darren Campbell wrote in his notes about the April 28 meeting that Lucki told Nova Scotia officials she promised the federal government that police would release the information.
On Monday, Lucki said she did not recall using the word “promised,” and said it was a “confirmation” from her to the minister.
She said she did connect the information about the weapons to “the minister’s mandate letter” in that meeting, specifically the direction to ban assault-style firearms.
Lucki told the committee that information about what happened during the 13-hour killing spree was changing, and that media were reporting facts before the Nova Scotia RCMP released them.
“I remember looking up at a screen and seeing 22 faces on the screen,” she said, adding that the RCMP were reporting a different number of victims at the time.
