Deputy Commissioner Brian Brennan testified Friday about the recording before the Mass Casualty Commission, which is leading the public inquiry into the 2020 mass shootings in Nova Scotia. Brennan said Dan Brien, director of media relations with the RCMP, recorded at least part of the phone call. Brennan also had a call on April 28, 2020 with Commissioner Brenda Lucki and senior Nova Scotia RCMP officers and civilian staff. Brennan said he was aware of an internal RCMP investigation into where the recording was and whether it could be recovered, but he was told the recording is gone. “There is no reason why Mr. Brien has deleted it from any phone he was using,” Brennan said. There was disagreement about what happened during that April 28 call. Four members of the Nova Scotia RCMP team told the commission that Lucki was angry that details about the gunman’s firearms were not released at a news conference earlier that day. Head of Ministry Darren Campbell’s notes from that day said Luki had “promised the Minister of Public Safety and the Office of the Premier” that the RCMP would release the details before the Liberal government’s pending gun legislation. But Brennan told the committee he did not recall any legislation being mentioned during the call. Luckie said Bill Blair, then Public Safety Secretary, never told or instructed her to reveal the makes and models of the guns. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said the government did not put any “undue” pressure on the RCMP. Brennan said he only learned in April or May of this year, two years after the call, that Brien had recorded it. Brian Brennan speaks to reporters in this 2018 file photo. The RCMP deputy commissioner told the NS mass shootings investigation that he is aware of a recording of the April 28, 2020 call with Commissioner Lucki. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press) RCMP spokesperson Robin Percival confirmed in an email to CBC News on Tuesday that “some portion” of the April 28 phone call was recorded. He said RCMP senior management was “recently made aware of the recording” and the commission was “immediately” informed of the situation. “RCMP have been advised that the recording is no longer available,” Percival said. He said the RCMP is reviewing the matter under current privacy and security regimes “to determine what further action is required,” but as that review is ongoing, the RCMP cannot comment further on the matter. Brennan made no mention of this recording in his appearance before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU) in July about allegations of political interference or his August interview with the committee. Michael Scott, an attorney with Patterson Law who represents several victims’ families, suggested to Brennan that it would be helpful to know this recording before now to clear up the “significant discrepancy” between what Lucki is saying and what the team is saying. of Nova Scotia that occurred in it. call. “I don’t disagree. It never came up in terms of the meeting — and I don’t have much information about the recording,” Brennan said. Attorney Michael Scott of Patterson Law, whose firm represents more than a dozen families, questions RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki at the Mass Casualty Commission inquiry on Aug. 23. (Andrew Vaughan/The Canadian Press) Scott told CBC News that Brennan’s comments caught his attention because it appears the existence of this recording has been known for months. Scott said his team will ask the committee’s counsel about how to push the federal Justice Department to get a clear answer on the matter. “I don’t think we’ll be satisfied until we get a copy of the recording or a lot of details about how an electronic recording of a meeting with RCMP national headquarters could be lost,” Scott said. When Scott asked Brennan last week why he took so long to figure out what happened to the recording, Brennan agreed that it’s “not that complicated” to order the recovery of Brien’s phone, but he didn’t know where that process was. Even if the recording has been deleted, Brennan said he had no idea if it could still be retrieved from the cloud or if a search warrant might be needed for the phone. If there is indeed a recording of the entire April 28 call, Brennan said it would “give absolute clarity” to all the questions raised by the committee and the House of Commons committee. “There would be no question, there would be no room for interpretation, if it exists at all,” Brennan said.
Brien was requested by the committee
The Mass Accident Commission continues to follow up with the Attorney General of Canada about “whether such a recording still exists and if so to obtain a copy,” director of investigations Barbara McLean said in an email Tuesday. SECU requested to hear testimony from Brien, but he did not appear at any of their meetings on the potential political interference issue in July or August. The committee will then meet sometime before September 30 to determine whether it wishes to continue its current study of this matter and which witnesses it should hear from.
