Much Has Been Written , Discussed and Debated of Late Concerning the RCMP
Mark Strahl, MP
#102-7388 Vedder Road
Chilliwack, BCV2R 4E4
Dear Mr. Strahl,
As one of your constituents I am in receipt of your recent mail out entitled ‘Enhancing Trust in the RCMP’ You have invited me to ‘Have my Say’, and to acknowledge whether or not I support the Conservative Governments efforts to bring accountability to the RCMP. The short answer to the question is ‘YES’ I do support the Government in this regard. However, I am not certain that the current legislation (Bill C42) is unto itself the sole or proper method of accomplishing this. The following will elaborate:
Much has been written, discussed and debated of late concerning the RCMP. Sensational incidents, occurrences, and stories of a diverse nature have plagued the RCMP and kept them illuminated in the public spotlight for several years now. The negative connotations in all these events have vastly overshadowed the positive side of RCMP accomplishments and there appears to be no let up on the horizon.
Who is to blame for this state of affairs? What has occurred/is occurring within the RCM Police that has created such a dismal downfall in the reputation of what everyone seems to agree was once a Canadian Icon? No one seems to know. More importantly, no one seems to want to find out!
Many independent reports have been authored concerning the RCMP, starting from the Marin Commission Report of the ‘70’s, to the Brown and Duxbury reports of more recent times. All of these documents pointed to problems within the management and operation of the RCMP as an organization with accompanying recommendations for possible correction. Virtually all of those recommendations were ignored or given token lip service by the RCMP managers of the day. Time passed, reports faded from the forefront of public or government attention, and the RCMP marched on to its own beat!
Outrageous and sensational events involving the RCMP continued at an alarming and seemingly accelerating rate; the Dziekanski incident , the Ian Busch affair, the Surrey Six debacle , the Picton investigation, and others. These are but a few examples where seemingly the RCMP as an organization has failed in their duty of service to the public causing an understandable and appropriate public backlash and outcry for accountability.
All Canadians are familiar with the Mayerthorpe incident in which four Mounties were killed, as well as the recent deaths of other RCMP members in isolated Northern postings. While likely not realized by most of the public, these and similar incidents and occurrences that have taken or endangered Mounties lives are viewed by many serving RCMP members as a failure of the organization in its duty and service to its own members! The rank and file firmly believes that the almighty buck and managerial promotions trump member safety and its associated costs.
Let us also reflect on yet another source of discouraging impact on the RCMP reputation. That being the deluge of complaints of sexual and gender based harassment of female members of the RCMP. Hundreds of women have come forward with their stories. Class action and individual lawsuits against the RCMP and many of its members are epidemic. S/Sgt Pearson, S/Sgt Ray, and Cpl Brown have surfaced as the poster boys to illustrate and punctuate the indifference of RCMP senior management to this state of affairs. The offenders get a slap on the wrist for the sake of appearance, while the victims are fired, ridiculed, and slandered (witness the recent RCMP public slandering of Cpl Gallford in their statement of defense to her harassment suit)
Yet another issue of concern plaguing the RCMP, and one that for the most part is falling under the radar due to the attention focused on all the afore mentioned issues is that of the general morale and the physical and mental well being of the majority of the front line serving RCMP members. Hundreds of members across Canada are on medical (sick) leave due to the stresses of their work environment, and the impact those stresses are having on both their mental and physical well being. Goes with the job you say? I beg to differ.
What most of these members will say if anyone were to take the time to ask, is that the stresses which are the source of their ill health are not those incurred in the performance of their duties; enforcing the law and serving the public; but rather come from RCMP management who continuously task them to do more with less, make unreasonable demands on their abilities and capacities, and harass and bully them mercilessly if they stumble or balk under the load.
What is the RCMP’s response to members so affected?
We are advised now that the Members/Employees Assistance Program, wherein members can reach out to their peers and refer them for professional help when recognizing symptoms of stress or medical distress, is being cancelled. Further, this week members have been advised that those being treated by a particular licensed psychologist of their choice will no longer have their medical treatments paid for as the particular Doctor has been critical of RCMP management and their tactics when treating his patients. This is accompanied by the general harassment and bullying from the RCMP Health Services Officers and Doctors who are trying to get RCMP members to ignore the treatments and advice given by their licensed medical care givers. Pressing such ‘stressed’ and distressed personnel back into action on the front lines of policing ‘untreated’ or with unresolved issues is a recipe for disaster. One can only speculate how many of the ‘outrageous’ events involving RCMP personnel of late may have some of these mitigating factors in their background?
Senior RCMP management continues to remain in a state of denial about the big picture and refuses to acknowledge that ‘tightening the screws’ and ‘business as usual’ will ultimately lead to the total collapse of the RCMP in its entirety.
Let’s get back to the question of ‘Who’ is to blame or responsible for the overall state of affairs in the RCMP. I maintain that the ultimate responsibility rests with the Federal Government. After all, the RCMP Commissioner is in fact a ‘Deputy Minister’ of the serving government. After the reign of Commissioner Zaccardelli and its stigma of pension fund misappropriation, and mismanagement, perjury by Senior Officers in parliament, etc…a token change was made in attempts to ‘appease the troops’ and ‘quiet the public.’ The first womancommissioner was appointed. That lasted about a half an hour! (Actually about 6 months) She resigned and retired. (Was this originally Government mandated, or was Commissioner Busson coerced and drafted into taking the position by seniorexecutives in attempts to hold onto their autonomy and right to rule the RCMP? Either way, it didn’t work, nothing changed!
Next came what RCMP management feared most . The appointment of a ‘Civilian’ Commissioner .This was announced with great fanfare by the government and he was to be the panacea to all the woes of the RCMP. He was appointed for a 5 year term. I, for one had great hopes that some much needed change would occur within the organization. I even sent him a direct email welcoming him aboard and wishing him success in his momentous task. He replied, sounding hopeful and encouraging. He quit 3 years into the five year contract and moved off to the ‘old commissioner’s’ home at Interpol!
We have now come full circle and another serving, male, RCMP member has been appointed as Commissioner. ( It would appear that the Government blinked first and ‘The Old Boy’s club’ is firmly back in control.) He has vowed to root out ‘dark hearted’ behavior amongst members. He has espoused the old and tired line of hiring and promoting more women to a ratio of 50% in all ranks. (How he expects to attract them in the current climate is anyone’s guess) He has reiterated the ‘reflective of Canada’s cultural mosaic’ lines as it refers to hiring practices, and has delivered the same lines to his political masters that every precedingCommissioner has delivered .
In short he has assured the Federal government, the Canadian public, and all of our contracting partners that he can and will fix all that is wrong with the RCMP, albeit not without considerable effort. (Someone needs to point out to him that he already has the job so he can quit pitching as if he were still applying for the position!)
Lip service? Buying Time? One thing is apparent and that is he has persuaded the Federal Government to make changes to the RCMP act that will allow Commissioners of the future to more efficiently deal with problem rank and file personnel! WHO will deal wife problem personnel within the Officer Ranks? How any of this will unfold remains to be seen. I personally have seen eight different Commissioners come and go. Collectively and individually they have corrected nothing within the RCMP culture as concerns Senior Managers belief that ‘they’ are answerable to No One.
What is at issue here is the folly of the Federal Government believing, or even ‘thinking’ that one individual can impose such needed cultural change upon such a vast and diversified institution as the RCMP, and to do so without Parliamentary guidance, oversight, and direction during the process. To believe that a ‘product’ of the entrenched RCMP culture and system that was the direct cause of the RCMP decay in the first place can now unilaterally fix it is notjust displacedconfidence, it borders on delusion!
Rather than telling Parliament and the Canadian Public what he/she thinks they want to hear, what the RCMP needs is a ‘Leader’ who will stand up and tell them that the RCMP needs to be completely overhauled if it is to ever again become relevant.
Our current Commissioner references our dispersion of duties between Municipal, Provincial, National and International priorities. It is time these competing priorities were reassessed with a view to dedicating the resources necessary (both human and financial) to actually conduct the work required. If this cannot be done then some of the work needs to be dropped! If the federal government is insistent on a national and international policing mandate by the RCMP, then municipal and/orprovincial contracts need to be dropped or those partners assessed the appropriate costs of providing the service, not offered the service at Walmart pricing and then expecting ‘Sachs Fifth Avenue’ quality.
What occurs now is that the RCMP Commissioner and senior executive will not say NO to anyone at any level when tasked with an ever increasing scope of duty or workload. They simply accept the burden and then download it to the rank and file who has to deliver on management’s promise. Such overburdening is part of the vicious circle leading to all the internal problems in the RCMP. Stress, burnout, harassment, bullying,
Erratic behavior in response to stresses, etc, etc.
We are currently told we must accommodate a $195,000,000.00 budget cut. No lessening of the frontline workload was offered to accommodate this. Not one municipal contract or Federal Section was closed due to this withdrawal of funding. Reports, reviews and Senate committees have for years stated that the RCMP funding needs to be expanded greatly as does its actual strength of numbers , just to keep pace with the workload. Instead, we get a budget cut while RCMP management signs us up for 20 years of more cut rate cost policing to our Provincial contract partners. The Canadian public suffers, and the rank and file RCMP members and employees suffer. I have not heard of ONE RCMP Officer’s position being cut to accommodate these budget demands, yet Provincially funded units in BC have been mandated to work at 20% below their established unit strength for several years. That equates to a 20% increase in workload to the remaining members in those units, or a 20% decrease in service to the public, for which they are still being billed!
As a Federal Agency, reporting to the Federal Government, and as the RCMP Commissioner is a Deputy Minister of that Government, then it follows that the Federal Government can tell the Provinces that the RCMP will no longer be available to act under contract to do Municipal, and or Provincial Policing. As policing is a Provincial responsibility under confederation then it is time that the Provinces who contract this service to the RCMP because it is cheap, start to develop alternate plans as this will no longer be an option.
In lieu of this then Parliament should at least appoint a committee to develop and establish terms and conditions for any ‘contract’ for policing entered into by the RCMP. Such conditions must establish and include minimum staffing levels, minimum standards of equipment and support, etc that can no longer be left to the whim of various RCMP managers whose only interest is to pacify their contract partners and to further their own careers at the expense of the rank and file members.
Our new Commissioner recently sent a communiqué to all serving members and employees seeking to engage us all in dialogue and to encourage discussion amongst ourselves, from member to member, member to supervisor etc., in hopes of resurrecting the Mission Vision and Values commitment / statement of the Force. A Staff/Sergeant replied to the Commissioner with his views and comments as invited. The S/sgt was summarily chastised and ‘put back in his place’ in no uncertain terms by the Commissioner who evidently dislike the S/Sgt’s opinion. This exchange has gone viral within the rank & file of the RCMP.
The result has been to impress upon the rank and file that RCMP management has not changed, that they truly do NOT want to hear opinions of subordinates unless they support those offered by management, and that the distrust of Senior management in the RCMP by the rank and file working members and employees continues to widen in leaps and bounds.
Does anyone really believe that the RCMP Commissioner and his senior executive can LEAD the RCMP masses out of their current morass given the dynamics at play within the RCMP? Does anyone truly believe that any of the current senior executive has the ability to rectify issues that developed under their watch? Does anyone believe that these same senior executives have the desire to effect any change to the system that has seen them elevated to their lofty positions of rank, authority and privilege? If this group of personnel were truly as gifted with intelligence, experience, capabilities, and skills of leadership as to be able to overhaul the RCMP, then please explain to me how in the Hell the RCMP evolved into such a mess while they have been in charge?
The RCMP, for it to continue into the future with any relevance to Canada, doesn’t need to be ‘tinkered’ with via Bill C42 and the Commissioners whims du’jour. It needs to be burnt to the ground, metaphorically speaking and either resurrected from the ashes with clear new focus and direction as established by Parliament and Canadians( not by current RCMP executives ), or it needs to be buried once and for all as having outlived its intended purpose!
While I support Your Governments efforts to establish accountability within the RCMP, I implore you to in fact ‘ Grab the organization by the throat..shake it vigorously so that all the top ‘Miss - Managers’ fall out, then replace them with a qualified and competent team selected for their expertise ‘as a team’ capable of Leading, Directing, and managing such a complex and diverse organization. Once that is accomplished then give them full government backing and support (including financial) to rebuild the RCMP as a Force for current and future times, and one which can no longer avoid accountability by reliving ‘The March West’
Sincerely
Loren G. Chaplin
Corporal, RCM Police
Reg # 34106 (39 years service)
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