Almost everyone supports transforming the RCMP into an FBI of the North. Until they don’t.
That certainly seemed an attractive proposition to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith, who previously supported Alberta developing its own provincial police service. And then, poof, the idea vanished from her platform during the election campaign earlier this year.
It also proved an irresistible proposition to the city of Surrey, British Columbia, which previously supported ending its RCMP contract, the largest in Canada. But in last October’s election, former Mayor Doug McCallum lost his position to Brenda Locke after she made keeping the RCMP the centrepiece of her mayoral campaign. (The province in July ordered council to continue the transition to a municipal force.)
Even the RCMP itself got into the act in 2019, when deputy commissioner Gilles Michaud floated a proposal for change. But when the provinces demurred, Ottawa abruptly ended the discussions.
The flip-flopping by municipalities, provinces and the federal government reveals that changing the 150-year-old iconic national police service is a lot easier said than done. And it should act as a cautionary tale for others who nonetheless decide to forge ahead with change.
Others like Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, RCMP Commissioner Michael Duheme, and Marco Mendicino, who served as public safety minister until last month’s cabinet shuffle, all support the FBI model for the Mounties, according to a recent Star investigation. If the previous efforts are any indication, they’re facing an uphill battle.
Be that as it may, there’s no question the red serge is in desperate need of a makeover: In the face of numerous scandals and dropping recruitment numbers, report after report has stressed the need for fundamental change.
The most recent investigation, Nova Scotia’s Mass Casualty Commission, made 130 recommendations, including one that urged the feds to identify responsibilities better handled by other agencies, including municipal police services.
That sounds a lot like at least considering a move toward the FBI model. And the model has much to recommend it: By becoming a Canadian FBI, the Mounties could focus exclusively on national concerns, which is precisely what we would expect from a national police service.
On the other hand, many rank-and-file officers maintain that local policing provides them with a solid grounding in investigative skills which they later use when promoted to federal investigations.
Yet this argument suggests that local policing is purely instrumental to the RCMP — a way of improving federal policing, rather than an end in itself. And sure enough, many Mounties fail to establish roots in the communities they serve as they’re merely biding their time until they’re promoted or transferred.
In contrast, most municipal police officers live, work and play in the communities they serve, which allows them to serve more effectively.
However, replacing the RCMP with local or provincial police is a massive logistical and financial undertaking, one that looks good from a distance, but makes for a much less attractive close-up, as Alberta and Surrey discovered.
Indeed, roughly 13,000 Mounties currently police about 150 municipalities and 600 Indigenous communities in every province and territory except Ontario and Quebec. If the RCMP are eliminated, will these communities police themselves? Or will the other jurisdictions develop provincial or territorial police services?
These are questions that must be thoroughly canvassed before any decisions are made. And since RCMP-municipal contracts don’t expire until 2032, there’s time to do the legwork. That means conducting extensive consultations with all stakeholders, including provinces, municipalities, Indigenous communities and members of the public.
Although the provinces have complained that they’ve been kept in the dark about Ottawa’s plans, the Star investigation revealed that all provinces and territories have been consulted, and all have made submissions except Nova Scotia.
That’s a good way to start implementing much-needed change to transform the RCMP to meet today’s policing challenges.
