A senior Mountie testified Thursday that he believes political interference was behind RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki’s determination to give police details about the weapons used in the mass shooting in Nova Scotia. Head of Ministry Chris Leather made the comment at the public inquiry into the rampage that claimed 22 lives on April 18-19, 2020, during cross-examination by Tom MacDonald, a lawyer representing two family members of the victims. MacDonald asked if Leriter believed, after the officer participated in a conference call with Lukey shortly after the shootings, that the commissioner’s comments reflected political interference in the criminal investigation that was underway at the time. Leather replied, “That’s my impression,” and said he came to that conclusion after gathering the evidence about the “directive” in the meeting with Lucki. RCMP Chief Supt. Darren Campbell claimed that during a meeting on April 28, 2020, Luki said she promised the Prime Minister’s Office that gun information would be released in connection with the Liberal government’s “pending gun control legislation.” The administration was in the midst of drafting new gun control measures to reduce access to semi-automatic weapons in the days following the mass shooting. Campbell and Leather both testified this week that releasing the gun information would have interfered with the ongoing investigation into who supplied the killer with the semiautomatic weapons. Leather, who is the head of criminal operations in Nova Scotia, testified Wednesday that he received a call on the evening of April 22 — three days after the mass shooting — from Lucki asking him to send her information about the arms. The inspector said a list of weapons he had sent to Luki was for internal purposes only. Leather’s statement about the April 22 call with Lucki, and a series of emails that followed, did not appear in a July 6 interview he gave to investigators. During cross-examination Thursday by Michael Scott — an attorney representing the majority of the victims’ families — Lester said he had not discussed the July 6 call or emails because attorneys for the federal Department of His justice had suggested “a reactionary attitude.” “The advice I received was to proactively withhold the conversation (with Lucki) and the emails leading up to the April 28th (2020) meeting,” Leather testified. “I knew from my notes and emails that I had prepared and submitted that it was obviously relevant to what would become the infamous April 28 phone call (meeting) and I was troubled by it and wanted their advice and was advised to take a reactive stance . “ Lori Ward, a lawyer for the federal Department of Justice and the RCMP, told commissioners Thursday she believed there was a “misunderstanding” by Lerter about that tip. She said she and another federal attorney had learned that Leather had a document related to the April 28, 2020, meeting with Lucki that they needed to review because it may contain privileged information. Lucki denied interfering with the police investigation. He testified on Monday before a House of Commons committee that he did not remember telling then-Public Safety Secretary Bill Blair that he had “promised” to release details of the weapons. He said he remembered using different words with Blair. Leather also faced questions from lawyers representing the victims’ families about his force’s poor relationship with other police forces before the mass killing and in the two years since. Truro Police Chief Dave McNeill testified in May that on the night of the mass shooting, information coming from the RCMP was “very sporadic” and that Truro police “didn’t really have a job.” Leather said it wasn’t possible to work closely with Truro police during a long and complicated emergency because the two forces hadn’t trained together for mass shooting scenarios. However, lawyer Josh Bryson asked Leather why the RCMP didn’t at least call in the municipal police force to help search the community of Portapique, NS, on April 19, 2020, to see if there were more victims. It took the RCMP nearly 18 hours after the mass shooting began to locate five of the victims’ bodies. The officer agreed with Jane Lenehan, a lawyer representing the family of victim Gina Goulet, that during his tenure, relations with municipal police forces had deteriorated and that it was important for the safety of Nova Scotians to repair them. Leather said he hopes a major change in Nova Scotia RCMP command would help ease tensions. He said he will transfer to national headquarters in August to take on a new role, while the assistant commissioner at the time, Lee Bergerman, has retired and Chief Supt. Darren Campbell recently transferred to New Brunswick. This report by The Canadian Press was first published on July 28, 2022.
