Tonda MacCharles – The Toronto Star
The whistleblowers and investigators who faced career reprisals for trying to expose wrongdoing in the RCMP pension fund administration should be formally commended for their courage, special investigator David Brown says.But none of those members of the RCMP was ready to take any bows yesterday.
Chief Supt. Fraser Macaulay, reached by phone, said he did not want to comment on the Brown report until after the formal response by the government and the force, and the response by the as-yet-unnamed new commissioner.
“It’s been an emotional thing for a long time,” said Macaulay. “The issue is we want to get through it, then we’ll sit back and reflect and say and `what about us as individuals?’
“This has always been about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police for us. It’s not been about us as individuals. Yes, things have happened to us. We’ll get to those, but we don’t want the two tainting each other.”
Still, he acknowledged “I really appreciate those comments.”
Macaulay and four other current and past members of the force stunned a Commons committee by publicly testifying that their efforts to reveal wrongdoing were quashed. Their testimony came after senior RCMP managers, including the interim commissioner, Bev Busson, had testified the matter was properly handled.
Brown disagreed, saying management’s response was neither appropriate nor timely. Time limits for pursuing internal discipline charges were exceeded, wrongdoers got “soft landings” while other individuals were treated “very unfairly,” starting with the woman who first uncovered the information leading to the investigations – civil servant Denise Revine.
Revine was removed from her position “causing her a tremendous amount of stress – ultimately affecting her health,” said Brown.
He said his findings should be “given significant weight in her current mediation with the RCMP” and she should be publicly recognized “for her important contribution.”
Macaulay was in charge of financial operations at the human resources division of the RCMP, which oversaw the pension funds.
Brown agrees Macaulay was punished when he tried to press then-commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli into acting on Revine’s information.
Brown found he was transferred “immediately and unacceptably” to the Department of National Defence, but should now have a formal notation of commendation in his file and the RCMP should publicly recognize his contribution “by ensuring he continues to enjoy the career he deserves.”
The RCMP should do the same for Staff Sgt. Mike Frizzell, urged Brown. Frizzell, assigned to the Ottawa police-led investigation, was yanked off after complaints by a superior officer. He had “no independence from the RCMP to do his job.”
Brown also urged recognition of the contributions of two others – retired Staff Sgt. Ron Lewis, who pushed Zaccardelli to respond to their concerns, and Staff Sgt. Steve Walker, another investigator who testified publicly about the mess, prompting an all-out study by a Commons committee.
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