High-ranking Mountie insists Lucki pressed him about releasing gun details after N.S. shooting

The high-ranking Nova Scotia RCMP officer at the centre of a controversy over possible political interference by RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki following the 2020 mass shooting is doubling down on his allegations.

RCMP Chief Supt. Darren Campbell told a House of Commons committee Tuesday that he recalls Lucki saying during an April 28, 2020 call that she was "sad and disappointed" that Campbell had not released details about the gunman's weapons at a news conference.

Campbell told MPs that the commissioner also said she had "promised" the offices of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then-Public Safety minister Bill Blair that those details would be released.

Campbell said he tried to tell Lucki that releasing that information could hurt the ongoing investigation, which involved agencies in the United States.

"The commissioner told my colleagues and I that we didn't understand, that this was tied to pending legislation that would make officers and the public safer," Campbell said.

"The commissioner made me feel as if I was stupid."

When asked how much of the call with Lucki had been about releasing the gun information, Campbell said the entire 20 minutes he heard of the meeting before walking out had been about the firearms.

Blair and Lucki have denied repeatedly that Blair interfered in the investigation. Blair also told the committee he never asked Lucki to promise him the gun information would be released.

Campbell said that while he knew Lucki likely was under pressure regarding how to share information from all kinds of sources, including the public, media, government and the RCMP, he has no first-hand knowledge of who was asking Lucki about the guns.

Campbell said that while it was never his intention to enter into a "political disagreement or discussion" about what happened in the April 28 meeting with Lucki, there was a principle at stake.

"The principle was the oath that I swore to uphold as a young recruit over three decades ago," he said. "I could not and would not break that oath."

The details about the guns became public through a briefing note given to the prime minister, which surfaced through an access to information request. Despite a request from the Nova Scotia Mounties that the firearm information be shared only internally to the RCMP, emails show Lucki sent those details to the offices of the Public Safety minister and the national security adviser to the prime minister.

When asked how the public could be sure the investigation into the massacre was not affected by this information being shared, Campbell said that's a difficult question to answer because their work "very well" may have been compromised.

Campbell said it's obvious that the Public Safety minister's office was interested in the firearms and conversations between Blair and Lucki might have taken place, but "the direction was fairly clear that it could not be shared."