Second RCMP Staffer Alleges Political Interference in Nova Scotia Shooting Probe

Lia Scanlan, director of strategic communications for the Nova Scotia RCMP, testifies at the Mass Casualty Commission inquiry into the mass murders in rural Nova Scotia on April 18–19, 2020, in Truro, N.S., on June 8, 2022. Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press

A second RCMP employee has alleged that RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki was under political pressure to reveal the types of firearms used in the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia.

The Mass Casualty Commission (MCC) looking into the tragedy released additional documents on June 28, one of which was an email letter to Lucki from the Nova Scotia RCMP strategic communications director at the time, Lia Scanlan.

The letter is dated April 14, 2021, a year after the April 18–19, 2020, shooting, and touches on the teleconference that occurred on April 28, 2020, between the RCMP H Division (Nova Scotia) and RCMP headquarters in Ottawa.

“The reason for the meeting was unclear, although I suspected it may have had to do with ‘guns,’ given I was asked if Darren could speak about the guns less than two hours before the press conference was scheduled to take place,” Scanlan wrote.

“Darren” is a reference to RCMP Superintendent Darren Campbell. The MCC’s publication of his handwritten notes a week prior to releasing Scanlan’s letter to Lucki ignited the controversy about potential political interference in the investigation.

Campbell wrote that Lucki had made a “promise” to then-minister of public safety Bill Blair and the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) that the RCMP would release to the public information about the types of firearms used in the shooting. This was allegedly to support pending gun control legislation.

Scanlan corroborated this in her letter to Lucki. After addressing Lucki’s behaviour during the April 28, 2020, meeting, which Lucki herself said she regretted in her June 21 statement on the controversy, Scanlan raised the issue of politicization.

“Eventually, you informed us of the pressures and conversation with Minister Blair, which we clearly understood was related to the upcoming passing of the gun legislation...and there it was,” wrote Scanlan.

“I remember a feeling of disgust as I realized this was the catalyst for the conversation and perhaps a justification for what you were saying about us,” she said, adding that the “political lens was not our sole focus.”

According to Campbell and Scanlan, Lucki berated H Division and said it disrespected her for failing to follow the directive to provide the information to the media.

“You personally attacked me, the work we had done and told us that you perceived our actions as a blatant sign of disrespect,” wrote Scanlan.

“The commissioner went on at length saying that she was ‘sad, disappointed’ and that we disrespected her by not providing these details to the media,” Campbell wrote in his retelling of the events.

When the tragedy occurred in Portapique, Nova Scotia, the Liberal government was about to announce a ban on 1,500 types of firearms it called “assault-style.” Two of the firearms used by the killer were eventually banned. All four of the firearms had been acquired illegally, three of which had been smuggled from the United States.

Campbell said in his notes that H Division was resisting the request to release information about the types of firearms used in order to avoid jeopardizing the cross-border investigation.

Scanlan said Lucki told H Division staff that they had “let the boys down,” in reference to two young boys whose parents were murdered in front of them during the shooting.

“To have anyone in the RCMP say we/I let the boys down. There is nothing that makes that acceptable, especially that it was said by the person, who by rank, is at the top of our organization. It was a revealing moment, one where I realized we were not aligned,” Scanlan wrote.

“Our focus was on the families and on the boys not on the legislation being passed on May 1, 2020.”

The government denies it interfered in the investigation.

“At no point did our government pressure or interfere with the operational decisions of the RCMP,” Blair said on June 22.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on June 23 that his government did not “put any undue influence or pressure” on the RCMP.

Lucki, in a statement on June 21, denied interfering in the investigation but did not directly dispute the claim that she asked for the information on firearms to be released.