Introduction: Rebuilding the Trust
Report: Introduction: Rebuilding the Trust (PDF 834KB)
Rebuilding the Trust
In June 2007, "A Matter of Trust", the Report of the Independent Investigator into Matters Relating to RCMP Pension and Insurance Plans, was submitted to the Minister of Public Safety and the President of the Treasury Board. That report raised serious issues with the RCMP's culture and governance. On the recommendation of the Investigative Report, the Government of Canada established this Task Force to consider these issues more closely.
The RCMP is a national symbol. The "red serge" has been a source of national pride and is recognized around the world as a symbol of who we are and what living in Canada means. However, in the last few years, trust in the management of the RCMP has been shaken. This has had a stunning impact on the members and employees of the RCMP and on the Canadians they serve. Trust in the management of the RCMP needs to be rebuilt.
At the time of our appointment and throughout the term of our mandate, the RCMP was under intense public scrutiny. In addition to the Investigative Report, Justice O'Connor had recently released his report on the Arar affair and made very significant recommendations. The Air India Inquiry was underway. The death in Vancouver of a Polish man following the use of tasers by RCMP officers had prompted several investigations and inquiries. Tragedy had befallen two members of the RCMP and their families. These circumstances complicated our already difficult challenge.
We took as a given that all Canadians – and most of all, the members and other employees of the RCMP – expect the RCMP to be a world class organization, answerable to Canadians. However, we felt it was important to listen closely to those people most familiar with the RCMP to understand why the organization is falling short. As we came to understand the scope and depth of the issues, we realized we would have to challenge traditional concepts and practices in order to identify innovative and lasting solutions.
During our consultation and analysis, serious problems affecting the RCMP were brought to the attention of the Task Force. Of these, the issues demanding the most urgent attention related to the impossible demands being placed on members and employees; demands that are compromising their health and safety. We also heard with remarkable consistency about major problems with the discipline system, recruitment, performance evaluations, promotion and personal development. We also witnessed the dedication and consuming pride members and employees have in their Force. All of this led us to conclude that there is a need to radically overhaul the way in which the RCMP is governed. We have also seen that there is a need to improve significantly the accountability of the RCMP to the public, to elected political leaders and to the members and employees of the Force.
This Report begins by outlining two major reforms which we believe are essential for restoring the Force to the positions of confidence and respect that it has enjoyed since its inception. These reforms address the need we have identified for reforms to governance, culture and accountability. Although the need for these reforms now seems obvious to the members of the Task Force, this is not where we started. As we assessed what we had learned and began considering possible solutions, we realized that merely treating the symptoms would not produce sustainable improvements; a more fundamental approach was required. A new approach to the organization of the Force and its governance structure is essential, and a new independent body is needed for complaints and oversight of the RCMP.
We recognize that many of the issues that have been brought to our attention require immediate redress. Although revitalized governance and recommitment to accountability will help ensure that similar issues will not arise again, we also address some of the most critical issues and recommend steps for the Force to rectify them immediately.
We also recognize that a renewal on the scale outlined in this Report will be difficult and, at times, disruptive. However, in our view, it is necessary for the RCMP and the Government of Canada to take decisive steps and to report on them publicly. A fundamental underpinning of our recommendations, therefore, is the immediate creation of an Implementation Council which will provide leadership and guidance to the renewal process and which will keep the public apprised of its progress. The composition and mandate of the Council is set out in Chapter 5.
Rebuilding the trust is our primary goal. We believe that it can be achieved by ensuring accountability, increasing transparency, strengthening governance, providing greater support to members and employees plus the implementation of many more recommendations that will improve the organization.
The Business and People of the RCMP
The RCMP is arguably the most complex law enforcement agency in the world today. The RCMP provides, under contract, rural and municipal policing services in all but two provinces, in all three territories and in approximately 200 municipalities and aboriginal communities. It also provides federal and international police services, national police services and protective policing. Federal and international police services operate domestically and globally to protect Canadians and their institutions against terrorists, organized criminals and other criminal activity. The RCMP hosts INTERPOL and Europol for Canada. Many Canadians may not realize that the RCMP provides leadership in police training and stabilization efforts around the world, including in Haiti and Afghanistan. National police services provide crime lab and identification services to over 500 law enforcement agencies and criminal justice organizations and host and manage CPIC. Protective policing is responsible for national protective security for the Prime Minister and the Governor General, their families and their residences, as well as for cabinet ministers, Supreme Court judges, foreign dignitaries and others designated by the Minister as requiring security.
There are currently over 27,000 members and employees of the RCMP comprising regular and civilian members of the Force and public servants. The approximately 17,000 regular members are trained as qualified peace officers, are entitled to wear the uniform and are entitled to carry weapons. There are also approximately 3,000 civilian members of the RCMP who are not trained as peace officers. Civilian members provide specialist support to the Force in areas such as forensic science and technology. Additionally, the RCMP employs approximately 4,700 public service employees who are not members of the Force, but who provide specialized services in key areas such as human resources and financial management. They also provide critical operational and administrative support in detachments across Canada, in divisional and regional centres and at Headquarters in Ottawa. Finally, the RCMP employs approximately 2,000 temporary civilian employees to perform a range of functions under contracts with a fixed duration. The RCMP is also supported by several hundred municipal employees, auxiliary constables and volunteers.
The RCMP operates with an annual budget of approximately $4 billion, for which it depends on appropriations from the federal government and on revenues from its contracting provinces, territories and municipalities.
The RCMP is led by the Commissioner appointed pursuant to the RCMP Act. The Commissioner has authority to run the business of the RCMP, under the direction of the Minister. The Force is organized into detachments, which come together under districts and then divisions, ultimately reporting to the Commissioner. Overlaid on this organization is a regional structure which divides the Force into regions for administrative purposes.
Much has been said and written about the complexity of the RCMP given the organization's law enforcement responsibilities in Canada and abroad. It would therefore not be unreasonable to argue that some or all of the solution to issues confronting the Force rests in breaking it up. Such a consideration would require a much broader public policy debate as to the policing model which best suits Canada and best serves Canadians. Such a debate is not within the mandate of this Task Force.
The Task Force believes, however, that the timely implementation of the recommendations in this Report will permit the RCMP, with all of its constituent pieces, to be governed effectively. Indeed a public policy debate about Canada's policing model would be better informed if the alternatives could be compared to a properly structured and governed RCMP.
Structure of the Report
The mandate given to the Task Force seeks recommendations on matters relating to the governance and culture of the RCMP. A copy of the mandate is attached as Appendix A. Biographies of each of the members of the Task Force are included for reference in Appendix B.
As a first step, the members of the Task Force agreed that it was important to consult widely on these issues both with members of the Force and with other stakeholders. The details of this process are discussed below. What emerged was a variety of consistent themes, many of which touched on more than one of the specific items of the mandate of the Task Force, and many of which, while clearly issues of governance and culture, did not fall squarely within one of the eight listed items in the mandate.
The Task Force realized, however, that the issues raised during these consultations reflect accountability, governance and cultural issues that ran far deeper and were more fundamental to the Force than those described in the earlier Investigative Report. We therefore concluded that a report that sets out the need for fundamental change and then addresses each of these issues in the form in which they were presented to us would provide to the reader a more meaningful analysis and prescription for reform than simply reporting on the specific items listed in the mandate. Each of the mandate items is addressed in our analysis, although they are not specifically referenced in the text.
Consultation Strategy
Tackling all the fundamental issues facing the RCMP today in just five months has been a complicated task that required extensive consultation with people who intimately understand the Force, its responsibilities and operating realities. To do so, we travelled across the country, conducting consultations in every province and territory. This included meetings with thousands of RCMP members and employees at detachments across the country and at Headquarters as well as cadets at Depot Division in Regina. We met with federal departments and agencies currently engaged with the RCMP, including the Canada Public Service Agency, Treasury Board Secretariat, the Office of the Public Sector Integrity Commissioner, the RCMP External Review Committee and the Commission for Public Complaints against the RCMP. We interviewed federal and provincial Solicitors and Attorneys General, Deputy Ministers, mayors and city councillors. We provided Canadians with an opportunity to contribute online, in writing, by phone or by fax. We provided the same opportunity to members and employees, both present and retired. We received over 500 emails and other pieces of correspondence in response.
Support for the Task Force
The Task Force enjoyed a very high level of support from the Task Force Secretariat, led by Executive Director Bill Austin, and which included Louise Forgues, Matt Hopkins, Lisa Khouri, Lauren Meldrum, Sandy McIntosh, Sherry Nowlan and Stephanie Pelletier. We also received a very high level of support from Carol Hansell and her colleagues at Davies Ward Phillips & Vineberg LLP.
This Report would not have been completed in the short time we were given without the cooperation of the Commissioner of the RCMP and his team of senior managers. In particular, we wish to commend Commissioner Elliott for establishing a committee to assist the Task Force – a committee that met 15 times over 20 weeks and significantly aided us in acquiring answers and insights to tough questions that were raised. We also wish to thank all the RCMP staff involved in the preparation of technical reports, policy analyses and researching the supporting documentation which informed the work of the Task Force. We are grateful for their assistance in arranging the meetings across the country that allowed us to talk with many members of the Force, provincial and territorial officials, mayors of municipalities, other police services and Canadians. The Task Force would not have been able to visit as many locations across the country (particularly remote detachments) without the logistical support and assistance of the RCMP. These visits were invaluable in understanding the grassroots of the organization. In short, the Force, its management and members could not have been more helpful.
One of the early challenges facing the Task Force was to identify other police forces in Canada and internationally which may have faced and implemented solutions for some of the issues confronting the RCMP. Although we could identify no police agency that provided the same range of services provided by the RCMP, we were aware that best practices are emerging for many of the areas in which it operates. The Task Force was fortunate to identify highly qualified experts both in Canada and internationally who were generous in providing very helpful advice. At our request, some of these experts produced research papers which will be published on the Department of Public Safety web site (www.publicsafety.gc.ca). In all, the Task Force found this expert support extremely helpful in putting into context the information provided to us during our consultations and for identifying practices currently followed in other police agencies.
The complete report is available as a PDF document (PDF 834KB).
The Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP commissioned reports from notable academics regarding topics central to its mandate. Several of these reports have been made available below in both English and French.