A senior Mountie testified Thursday that he believes political considerations are behind RCMP Commissioner Brenda Luckey’s determination to get police to release details about the weapons used in a mass shooting in Nova Scotia.
Chief Lt. Chris Leder made the comments at the public inquiry into the atrocity that claimed 22 lives on April 18-19, 2020, during cross-examination by Tom Macdonald, a lawyer representing two members of the victims’ families.
MacDonald asked if Leder believed, after the officer participated in a teleconference with Luckey after the shootings, that the commissioner’s comments reflected political interference in the criminal investigation being conducted at the time.
“That’s my impression,” Leather replied. He said he came to this conclusion after gathering the facts surrounding the “preliminary” meeting with Lucky.
RCMP Assistant Chief Darren Campbell claims that during a meeting on April 28, 2020, Luckey said she had promised the Prime Minister’s Office that information about the weapons would be released in connection with “upcoming gun control legislation ‘ of the Liberal government.
The Liberal government was in the process of drafting new gun control measures to reduce access to semi-automatic weapons in the weeks after the mass shooting. Campbell and Leder testified this week that releasing information about the weapons would interfere with the ongoing investigation into who provided the killer with the semiautomatic weapons.
RCMP Commissioner Brenda Luckey looks on during Canada Day celebrations at Lebreton Flats in Ottawa on Friday, July 1, 2022. (Justin Tang/The Canadian Press)
Leder, who is Nova Scotia’s head of criminal operations, testified Wednesday that he received a call from Luckey on the evening of April 22 – three days after the mass shooting – and that she asked him to send her details about rifles. The chief said a list of weapons he sent Lucky was for internal use only.
Leder’s statement about the April 22 conversation with Luckey and a series of emails that followed did not appear in a July 6 interview with attorneys in the investigation.
The Mountie says he was told not to “proactively disclose” the call
Under cross-examination Thursday by Michael Scott — a lawyer representing most of the victims’ families — Leder said he did not discuss the July 6 conversation with Luckey or the emails because federal Justice Department lawyers told him suggested that he take a “reactive posture”.
“The advice I got was not to proactively disclose the conversation [with Lucki] and the emails leading up to the April 28 meeting, [2020],” Leder testified.
“I knew from my notes and emails that I had prepared and sent that this was obviously related to what would become the infamous April 28 phone call and I was troubled by that 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 that she believes there was a “misunderstanding” on Leather’s part about that advice. She said she and another federal attorney have learned that Leder has a document related to the April 28, 2020, meeting with Luckey that they need to review because it may contain privileged information.
“At no point did we advise [Chief Supt.] He’s afraid not to talk about it and not tell the truth,” she said.
Ward said the document in question, which she did not describe in detail, would soon be revealed to the inquiry.
Lucky denied interfering in the police investigation. She testified to a House of Commons committee on Monday that she did not recall telling then public safety minister Bill Blair that she had “promised” to reveal the details of the weapons. She said she remembers using different words with Blair.
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