Recording of RCMP meeting that sparked political interference allegations released
CBC
The RCMP has finally released a recording of a controversial phone meeting in which the head of the RCMP dresses down staff in Nova Scotia for communications following the mass killings in the province.
The meeting, held days after the mass shootings, has been at the centre of accusations that the Prime Minister's Office and then public safety minister Bill Blair interfered politically with RCMP operations in order to benefit the Liberal government's pending gun legislation.
Four Nova Scotia RCMP staff members have testified at the Mass Casualty Commission that RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki reprimanded staff during the meeting on April 28, 2020, for not including information at a news conference earlier that day about the makes and models of the guns that were used in the killings of April 18 and 19 that year. They have all said publicly they believe political interference was a factor.
While the controversy over the comments has brewed for months, it wasn't until September that word of a possible recording emerged at the public proceedings. The recording, made by Dan Brien, director of media relations with the RCMP, was believed to have been deleted from his phone.
But it was recently recovered and released publicly Thursday by the commission.
Lucki says in the recording, "it was a request that I got from the minister's office" and that she told the minister the information would be released, and then it wasn't.
LISTEN | Excerpts from RCMP commissioner's conversation with staff
Lucki has previously said that Blair never directed or ordered her to disclose the makes and models of the guns.
"Does anybody realize what's going on in the world of handguns and guns right now?" Lucki says during the meeting. "The fact that they're in the middle of trying to get a legislation going, the fact that that legislation is supposed to actually help police and the fact that the very little information I asked to be put in speaking notes at around 11:30 this morning ... could not be accommodated?
"So does anybody wonder why I feel frustrated, like I'm not being heard, which makes me feel disrespected?... Or is it just — am I being over-sensitive?"
She goes on to say she feels "bad" for having the conversation because she doesn't want to make the other staff feel bad.
"But … it's disheartening for me to try to manage our RCMP, which is bigger than Nova Scotia, and trying to at least give the prime minister a bit of information before he hears it on the news."
Lucki says she expected the line about the guns to be included as "part of the narrative" at the news conference, but the issue only came up during reporters' questions.
"It was only by fluke. Had the question not been asked, nothing about the guns would have been mentioned."
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