Harper government tries to kill all traces of long-gun registry

Long-gun registry: Information watchdog accuses RCMP of destroying records

Canada's information commissioner is accusing the RCMP of illegally destroying records related to the long-gun registry, and is taking the government to Federal Court over the matter.

Suzanne Legault accuses the Mounties of destroying registry records after she told them to preserve the data while she investigated a complaint from a requester who asked for the information.

Legault says the request was made in early 2012, before a law was enacted to destroy the long-gun registry records, and that the RCMP was obligated to preserve the records.

The commissioner wrote to Justice Minister Peter MacKay in March, asking for an investigation into alleged illegal destruction of government records, a criminal offence set out in the Access to Information Act.

MacKay has not responded, but last week the government introduced amendments to the law that would retroactively protect long-gun registry records from access requests, back to 2011. It would also protect the RCMP and other government officials from any lawsuits or prosecutions.