National security watchdog probing RCMP's decision not to probe Flight PS752, lawyer says

Relatives of some of those killed when Flight PS752 was shot down over Iran have filed complaints against former RCMP commissioner Brenda Lucki over her decision not to launch a criminal investigation into the deadly event.

Now, a national security watchdog is expected to determine if Lucki and her police force acted appropriately, according to the complainants' lawyer.

Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps fired a pair of surface-to-air missiles at Flight PS752 after takeoff in Tehran in 2020, killing everyone onboard. Most of the passengers were en route to Canada. Fifty five Canadian citizens and 30 permanent residents died in the event.

While the RCMP called the aircraft's destruction a «national tragedy,» Lucki told the victims' families she decided Ukraine would be best suited to lead a criminal investigation because it was a Ukrainian plane that was destroyed.

Javad Soleimani, whose wife Elnaz Nabiyi died on the flight, filed a complaint in June with the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP, the watchdog that handles complaints about the national police service. He called Lucki's reasoning unreasonable, flawed and discriminatory.

«Many families in our conversations say that if it was just one white Canadian in the downing of Flight PS752...the RCMP reaction would be completely different,» he said.

Three other individuals who lost loved ones on the flight filed a similar complaint jointly in 2021. Their lawyer said the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA), an independent government agency that reviews national security and intelligence activities, has been investigating that complaint and is expected to render a decision soon.

Lucki wrote a letter to victims' families in 2021