In an interview last February, Lia Scanlan told members of the Mass Casualty Commission that the federal government was involved in what police told the public about a 13-hour riot by a gunman who killed 22 people. “Secretary (Bill) Blair. “All these people, the prime minister, weighed what we could and could not say,” Scanlan said. Federal Public Safety Secretary Bill Blair gave the NC Scotland’s RCMP contribution on what could and could not be said in the days following the April 2020 mass attack, according to the NC Scotland RCMP’s director of strategic communications. – Blair Gable / Reuters However, what Scanlan said before and after her comment has been deleted by the Mass Accident Committee. A 89-page transcript of the interview, the second of two interviews he conducted with the commission before he testified in person at the Truro public hearing on Wednesday, was recently posted on the commission’s website. Throughout the nearly four-hour interview, Scanlan explains how there was “political pressure” on the RCMP. As the RCMP of Nova Scotia held its own press conference in Dartmouth in the days following the mass shooting, Scanlan recalled how RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki gave separate interviews.
read more
Scanlan said Lucki had been advised “by her people” not to do so, but ended up doing one-on-one interviews, giving “inaccurate” information or talking about information that was “fluid”, such as the number of constructions. that had been burned. . “And he went out and did that and he knew it well – and it was all political pressure,” Scanlan said. “This is 100 percent of Secretary Blair and the Prime Minister. “And we have a commissioner who does not push back.” Prime Minister Justin Trinto attends a press conference in Ottawa on February 21, 2022. – Blair Gable Similar to her previous comments about the federal government, some of what Scanlan said before and after her statements have been deleted by the committee. In an earlier interview with the committee, Scanlan said many of the people she worked with did not know “some of the bulls I was dealing with in Nova Scotia or Ottawa” because she kept it to herself. herself.
“It looks fragmented, inconsistent”
It was not just the federal government that was involved in the release of the RCMP in Nova Scotia. The RCMP National Headquarters was also trying to give instructions on what the provincial police force said during the press conferences, to the point where the two groups had decided on different numbers of victims the next day. “This is 100 percent of Secretary Blair and the Prime Minister. “And we have a commissioner who does not push back.” – Lia Scanlan, Strategic Communications Director for Nova Scotia RCMP In an email exchange with someone who worked for the communications manager for RCMP, Scanlan’s frustration came. “Can I ask that we stop changing the numbers of the victims? Let us guide the release of information. “It seems fragmented, inconsistent,” Scanlan wrote. “The circulation of 10 was decided for a good reason.” After many press conferences conducted by the Nova Scotia RCMP in Dartmouth, they stopped. One took place in June 2020 and the other in December 2020, but Scanlan eventually said “there was no new information to share”.
Search for “this justice finally”
As the months turned into years of mass murder, Scanlan said inaccurate information about the RCMP continued to be published on social media or other media. And although she wanted to go out and correct some of what was being said, Scanlan said she could not. “… People know that we are committed, like, from the federal government and from the bosses in the province, the bosses up there and all that,” he said. Dozens of people attended a luncheon to support a call for a public inquiry into the April mass shootings at Victoria Park in Halifax on July 27, 2020. – Tim Krochak / Archive Scanlan said when Blair announced in July 2020 that a public inquiry would be conducted, in contrast to the joint independent review, she was “excited” that something would “eventually pay off”. In the final moments of her interview, Scanlan wondered why Supt. Darren Campbell, Chief Minister Chris Leather and retired Assistant Commissioner Lee Bergerman had not been interviewed by the committee. “They have some of the clearest information … so I definitely think he should interview them,” Scanlan said.
