Scandal-plagued RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki announces retirement

On Wednesday, Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Brenda Lucki announced that she will be retiring, with her last day on the job scheduled for March 17.

Lucki's career as commissioner was marred with scandals, notably following the 2020 Nova Scotia mass shooting, and she faced numerous calls to step down, however, she claimed that her decision to retire was made for "personal" reasons. 


 

"Today I announced that I have made a personal decision to retire," Lucki wrote in a statement. "This was not an easy decision as I love the RCMP and have loved being the 24th Commissioner. I am so incredibly proud to have had the opportunity to lead this historic organization and witness first hand the tremendous work being done each and every day by all employees from coast to coast to coast and internationally."

Lucki claimed that since being sworn in on April 16, 2018, the RCMP has "made some great progress to meet the expectations of Canadians, our communities and our contract partners."

"I'm so proud of the steps we've taken to modernize," she continued, "to increase accountability, address systemic racism, ensure a safe and equitable workplace and advance reconciliation with Indigenous peoples."

"I leave knowing I did my best," Lucki concluded.

While Lucki's departure was met with a fair amount of criticism, Conservative MP Glen Motz suggested that he believed that she was "well intended," but, "unfortunately became probably overly yanked around by Public Safety, by the minister, and by this government."

Following the aforementioned mass shooting in Nova Scotia, Lucki was pressed on allegations she had promised Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and then-Public Safety Minister Bill Blair that she would release the details of the gun used in the Nova Scotia mass shooting to sway the public into supporting gun control legislation.

It was then revealed that Lucki had originally told Blair's chief of staff Zita Astravas in an email that she explicitly did not want the details to be released to the public, as they were integral to the ongoing investigation.

Five days later, Lucki instructed her subordinates to share the information and berated those who refused. She claimed she had been pressured by Trudeau and Blair to do so, however, both denied that any "undue pressure" had been applied to the situation.