The RCMP in the dock
For a long time, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police has stood on guard as Canada’s proudest national symbol. The Mounties always get their man, as the old saying goes.
How much of this legend is reality, and how much mere myth, has become a little clearer in the past few years. Despite the dedication of thousands of good people who serve within its ranks, the glorious image of the RCMP now appears to have been built on distortion, cover ups, and historic fraud.
Several recent events have caused indignation throughout the country. The most grievous, of course, has been the killing of the Polish immigrant, Robert Dziekanski, when he was tasered five times in quick succession in the Vancouver Airport.
The testimony of Mounties heard so far at the inquiry into his death reveals a depth of incompetence and possible lying that is hard to fathom.
Certainly, the written statements given by the officers have proven wildly at odds with the reality of the video taken by a bystander to this sad event. They have been forced to concede, after seeing the video, that the reports they provided their superiors were wrong.
This cases raises serious questions about the training received by Mounties. So, too, do such incidents as the deaths of four young Mounties at the hands of a crazed individual in Mayerhorpe, Alberta, and of the killing of two Mounties involved in a recent incident near Saskatoon.
The behavior of high-ranking officers of the RCMP also has been called into question. One of the most lamentable cases involved the Commissioner of the force, Giuliano Zaccardelli, who had to resign following his testimony to a Parliamentary committee about Maher Arar, falsely fingered as a terrorist.
That wasn’t the first time Zaccardelli had gotten into hot water. His unprecedented disclosure, at the height of a federal election, that the Mounties were investigating the Minister of Finance — who was later cleared of all suspicion — raised doubts about the Force’s political neutrality.
Zaccardelli’s resignation led the then Minister of Public Safety, Stockwell Day, to concede that an oversight capacity of some kind “that we don’t have now” is needed to keep the RCMP honest. The appointment of a civlian commissioner as Zaccardelli’s successor doesn’t seem to have had much effect, at least as yet.
Lest you think the problems surrounding the RCMP are new and that the Force is behaving with less credibility that in the past, let me introduce you to an interesting book:
Published in 1978 (James Lorimer & Company), An Unauthorized History traces the Force back to its creation as the Northwest Mounted Police in 1873, at a time when Ottawa saw a need to preserve order among discontented Metis settlers in the prairies of the Northwest.
By the time the book has gone through the early history of the Force and its use as an instrument of government compulsion in such incidents as the Regina Riot of Great Depression fame, it is clear that a primary role of the Mounties has always been to control civilian dissidents as much as to prosecute real criminals.
The abuse of power by the RCMP Security Service in the 1970s — including spying on provincial premiers and cabinet ministers, burning down barns to collect evidence against separatists and wiretapping trade unions and defence lawyers — led to the unit’s disbanding and its replacement by a new organization of almost equally questionable merit, the Canadian SecurityIntelligence Service (C SIS).
The main difference in what we know about the RCMP today, and what we knew about it in the past, lies in what we are allowed to see and understand.
Today, thanks to cell phones and portable video recorders, we can stumble onto the truth. That didn’t happen in the past. Without the Dziekanski video, the distorted reports of the officers at the scene would have been accepted at face value.
The long, vain-glorious history of the RCMP raises the question of whether it is not time to severely restrict the Force in its powers and duties.
Why do so many Canadian provinces rely on the RCMP to serve as provincial police forces? Why do so many cities in RCMP provinces not have their own city police forces?
Perhaps it is time for British Columbia, especially, to look at the merits of establishing a provincial police force like that of Ontario and Quebec.
Then the RCMP could be left to do what it does best – stand on guard in glorious scarlet uniforms at the opening of Parliament.
the glorious image of the RCMP now appears to have been built on distortion, cover ups, and historic fraud as I had found out firsthand 25 years ago..
The RCMP are only interested in covering their butts, and they tell monster lies to achieve that purpose.They have committed worse crimes than the criminals. They are losing the respect of Canadian’s. RCMP have shattered their image across the entire country. Do they not understand they are held in contempt. Do they not understand, many Canadians no longer want the RCMP as an emblem for Canada. Our young people call the RCMP pigs. They have no respect for them at all. The RCMP have ruined, what was once an honorable profession by their own disrespect for Canadian citizens. I firmly agree the RCMP must be dismantled. Unfortunately they have brought this on themselves. There were choices, and they chose, to lie and cover up for each other, and they just don’t seem to understand that, we Canadians, see right through them. So, why they persist in being dishonest, beats the hell out of me.
Please remember, when a member of the RCMP makes an error and lies on the stand or otherwise about the event, this is his own personal choice. The police service itself absoutely does not teach its members to lie about the truth. In fact, they teach just the opposite. It is impossible to deny that too many errors have been made and that the image of the RCMP has been tarnished. It will take a long time for the service to regain the trust of each Canadian citizen, yet most of the members of the RCMP believe that it is a journey that is worth taking. Most will tell you that serving the public and helping to make Canada a better and safer country is the reason they signed up in the first place.
The so called old school policing is still out there, whether we like it or not. It is being changed (too slowly perhaps) with a great deal of effort. I understand the frustrations of the citizens of Canada but the truth is police services (either federal or city) have to walk the lines of enforcing the law, keeping themselves and citizens safe while being sensitive to the needs of their clients. The RCMP wishes to be a transparent police service, with accountability at the core of their values.
Thank you, Matt, for this very reasoned and informative response. Your message is one that we all need to keep in mind.