2nd RCMP staffer suggests commissioner under political pressure after N.S. mass shooting

The former head of communications for the Nova Scotia RCMP said it was "appalling" to hear the commissioner of the Mounties bring up federal political pressures in a meeting days following the mass shooting.

New documents released Tuesday by the inquiry into the massacre on April 18-19, 2020, have accounts from three senior staff and officers stating that firearms used by the gunman were brought up in a meeting with RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki.

Lia Scanlan, former communications director for the Nova Scotia RCMP, wrote in a scathing email to Lucki that during the April 28, 2020, meeting she attended with the commissioner and senior Nova Scotia officers, Lucki informed the group of "the pressures and conversation with [then public safety] minister Blair," which the group clearly understood was related to upcoming gun control legislation.

"I remember a feeling of disgust as I realized this was the catalyst for the conversation," Scanlan said in her email dated April 14, 2021, about a year after the shooting.

"I could not believe what you, the leader of our organization, was saying and I was embarrassed to be privy to what was unfolding. It was appalling, unprofessional and extremely belittling."

On May 4, 2020, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a ban on some 1,500 makes and models of guns, including two of the guns used in the Nova Scotia mass shooting. At that time, police had not released the specific makes and models used in the attacks.

Scanlan's email echoes controversial notes released last week by Supt. Darren Campbell on the same topic. 

Campbell's allegation that Lucki had made commitments to Trudeau and Blair in advance of new gun control legislation has ignited a political storm in Ottawa and resulted in an upcoming parliamentary hearing to address allegations of potential political interference.

Both Blair and Trudeau have denied doing so and stated the RCMP makes its own decisions about releasing information.

In her email to Lucki, Scanlan said she suspected the April 28 meeting might be about the issue of guns, as she was asked if Campbell could speak about the firearms less than two hours before a press conference he delivered that day.

Before April 28, Scanlan said there had been conversations between the Nova Scotia RCMP team and national headquarters about the calibre of guns used in the shooting, but the Nova Scotia team felt like those details could not be discussed publicly from an investigation standpoint.

Scanlan wrote that within the Nova Scotia division, they had committed to sharing any new information with the victims' families before the media to prevent them from being re-victimized, and the gun details had not yet been shared with them.

Campbell's notes also said he felt this information could risk jeopardizing the investigation into how the shooter obtained his weapons.

Scanlan wrote that at the time of the Lucki meeting, the Nova Scotia Mounties were dealing with worldwide scrutiny while processing the loss of their colleague Const. Heidi Stevenson, and stories of "unbelievable" terror about the 22 victims.