RCMP Watch

RCMP News Release in response to a Globe and Mail article - William J.S. Elliott, Commissioner - Lawrence Martin suggested that my use of the title Assistant Deputy Minister in relation to the senior executive communications position the RCMP intends to establish deserves an explanation and the consideration of additional facts. I agree.
As Mr. Martin [...]

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Rosie Lombardi (InterGovWorld.com) - Privacy organizations are calling for intensified scrutiny and oversight of the RCMP’s information management practices, which have failed to comply with government policy for almost 20 years.
Serious issues were brought to light in a recent audit of the RCMP’s exempt files conducted by the Office of the Privacy Commissioner of Canada [...]

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Essica Leeder, Ottawa (Globe and Mail) - A high-ranking Mountie ensnared in the RCMP pension scandal said the House of Commons’ top legal officer privately offered her a chance to avoid becoming “roadkill” in a campaign to have her cited for contempt of Parliament.
The proposal by veteran law clerk Rob Walsh would have required that [...]

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David Canton (London Free Press) - There is a troubling worldwide trend to increased government surveillance and collection of personal information on individuals. Does it enhance public safety and law enforcement or is it just “security theatre” that tends to make people conform to social norms because they think they are being watched?
The Ontario Privacy [...]

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Editor’s Viewpoint, Bay St. George, N.F. (The Georgian) - Well-known children’s author and cartoonist Dr. Seuss has pleased generations with his snappy rhymes and clever witticisms.
One of his most famous and oft repeated phrases is, “Be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don’t matter and those who matter don’t [...]

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RCMP Press Release - Ottawa — The Royal Canadian Mounted Police today announced measures to improve the management of its exempt data banks by implementing all of the recommendations concerning the banks made by Privacy Commissioner Jennifer Stoddart in her report to Parliament.
“We will be implementing every one of this report’s recommendations,” said Chief Superintendent [...]

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Ottawa (Canadian Press) - Canada’s privacy watchdog has uncovered numerous problems with secret RCMP data banks that hold sensitive information about Canadians.
In a special report to Parliament, Jennifer Stoddart suggests two data banks operated by the Mounties have become uncontrolled hiding places for personal information.
The RCMP has two so-called exempt banks, one containing criminal intelligence [...]

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Bill Curry, Ottawa (Globe and Mail) - Canada is working with the FBI on a system called Server in the Sky that would see fingerprint and iris scan data shared around the world to nab individuals running from the law.
The personal information on the database would be used by Canada, the United States, Britain, Australia [...]

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Elizabeth Thompson (Montreal Gazette) - A secret RCMP file on former Quebec Premier Rene Levesque alleges that he suffered from sexual problems and was so drawn to very young women that it left his party at times in an embarrassing situation.
New files obtained by The Montreal Gazette under the Access to Information and Privacy Act [...]

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Jessica Leeder and Greg McArthur, Globe and Mail
Five whistle-blowers who jeopardized their careers trying to force the RCMP to investigate allegations of internal corruption, nepotism and mismanagement were quietly awarded the force’s highest honour in a closed ceremony this week.
Gathered with their families around a horseshoe-shaped table at an upscale Ottawa steakhouse Wednesday, the cadre [...]

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