Brian Hutchinson, Vancouver, B.C. (National Post) – On the heels of a bitter public spat between Canada’s top Mountie and two B.C.-based officers who criticized him, a new group of disgruntled officers has emerged, sniping at RCMP brass and threatening to expose certain “investigative files” and compromising pictures of members whom it deems unworthy of the uniform.
The Re-Sergeance Alliance announced itself in an anonymously written email to media outlets this week. Claiming to speak for “slightly over 500 members” inside the RCMP’s E Division in B.C., the group apparently formed as two local officers were sending letters under separate cover to Commissioner Bob Paulson, chastising him and other senior RCMP managers for a host of controversies and alleged institutional failures.
“Our Alliance is slowly now moving across the nation,” reads a missive posted this week on its website. “So those of you whom our leadership has ‘Handled’ for so many years, our so-called orchards of ‘Bad Apples,’ we simply state your time has arrived and your corruption is about to see the light and justice of your fellow Canadians.”
The RCMP has been rocked in recent months by accusations of inappropriate — even criminal — conduct levelled at some members, a preponderance of them based in B.C.
Several female members have filed lawsuits alleging harassment at work, as well.
Mr. Paulson has been attempting to mend fences since his appointment as RCMP commissioner in November. He acknowledges the force needs to be reformed, and that it employs a number of wayward officers who aren’t easily dismissed under current rules. He believes proposed changes to the RCMP Act will bring accountability to the internal disciplinary process and will make it easier for him to fire Mounties who commit crimes.
“It’s unsatisfactory that we have to continue spending your tax dollars to pay individuals that don’t deserve to be in the RCMP,” Mr. Paulson wrote in an open letter to Canadians in May. “I know that legislation alone is not enough to keep your trust … I have started working at changing attitudes and behaviours within the RCMP.”
Some Mounties aren’t satisfied. In an email sent to the commissioner in late July and leaked to the media, RCMP Staff Sgt. Tim Chad dismissed the commissioner’s promises as “lip service” and accused him of “talking down to us like we are all a bunch of screw-ups.”
Mr. Paulson responded in kind. “Your attempt to discredit my effort to have an honest discussion with the staff of the RCMP strikes me as a cheap and unsophisticated insult when you suggest that I am talking down to members,” reads his email in reply to the staff sergeant, who works from a detachment just outside Vancouver. “Wake up, Man, this organization is at risk.”
His tone upset a second veteran Mountie; he fired off his own letter to the commissioner. “I find your reply to [Staff-Sgt. Chad] aggressive, insulting, arrogant, condescending and immature,” wrote Const. Peter Kennedy, who is based in North Vancouver. “At this time I do not have very much respect for your actions. You are at this point a man of words only…. Management keeps failing with a big fat F.”
The dissident Re-Sergeance Alliance has stepped up the attack on RCMP brass, posting on its website anonymously penned screeds containing unsubstantiated accusations about a number of current and former members. They also call into question Mr. Paulson’s sincerity and undertakings as commissioner.
Mr. Paulson was unavailable for comment Wednesday. An RCMP spokesman in Ottawa said the force does not respond to “anonymous web postings.”
Another posting defends Mike Webster, a B.C.-based psychologist who treats approximately 25 Mounties suffering from work-related problems. Mr. Webster has for years been critical of RCMP leadership, describing it as “cultish,” “xenophobic” and “unhealthy.”
The RCMP informed him by letter earlier this month that it will no longer pay for services he provides its officers. “Your lack of objectivity in both your clinical work and public commentary towards the RCMP have weakened your effectiveness in treating your RCMP client base,” the letter read.
The RCMP has also lodged a complaint against Mr. Webster with the College of Psychologists of British Columbia, the body that regulates the profession in the province.
Reached at his office on Denman Island, on B.C.’s West Coast, Mr. Webster said he wasn’t surprised at the blacklisting. RCMP brass have expressed their displeasure with him before. “I wear it as a badge of honour,” he said. “I’m interested to see how the College will deal with this.”
Mr. Webster said he will continue to meet with an “RCMP members support group,” some two dozen officers who gather near Vancouver once a month to discuss their various workplace problems. He will offer his services free of charge, he said.
He noted that one of the support group members is Peter Kennedy, the North Vancouver corporal who recently criticized Mr. Paulson.
Mr. Webster acknowledged he has a relationship with the Re-Sergeance Alliance, as well. “I have intimate knowledge of them,” he said. They are real RCMP members, he insisted, not frauds. “They are credible people.”
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I would suggest that a fear of retribution may be overstated. Although the RCMP organization has yet to obtain adversarial representation in proper form, the Charter still is supreme in its authority over Canadians, RCMP employees or not. Legally, any decision rendered by the RCMP is subject to review, after process exhaustion, by the Federal Court of Canada, and then the Federal Court of Appeal followed of course by the SCC. there are any number of lawyers available to ensure propriety of procedure.
If the Commissioner feels that changes in the RCMP Act are going to be the trump card in labor relations, I am afraid he is under a misconception. The principals of fundamental justice still prevail in this country. My continued advice is to remove the Commissioner from the seated govt and instill a civilian oversight board with minimal govt representation. The plethora of govt regulations and bureaucracy are not conducive to the effective operation of a National police force. Hiring, a case in point.
Dark Hearted Behaviour? Bad Apples? All of this political speak in generalities are a clear fact Canadians should stand up and say enough is enough. I have an sneaking feeling the new legislation to allow the Commissioner to fire any member he choses for the ecconomy and efficiency of the Force, will only serve to punish the victims and have them removed from the Force to cover up any bullying, abuse and harassment, much like “No Victim, No Crime”. Young members, this is your opportunity to get on board and defend your employer and the principles it has stood for these many decades. Dishonest and complicite leadership is selling out the Force and its members. Haven’t seen an SRR in a year, they must be scrambling to call in for their commissions. It is time to join the MPPAC to protect yourself and what little will be left when we are gutted by government with the active approval of our SEC.
If not, keep your head down and hope for the best.
Hey johnnyG, again I remind you that your limited experience in the Force is not a reflection of all the members experiences. Kindly remember that. If you wish to slag the Force at least quantify your remarks.
I would also like to remind you that in the days past that you continually refer to as being so great, that we were definitely a para military regime and you did what you were told and kept your mouth shut period.
You go on constantly about mobbing and bullying yet you refuse to explain how the golden years and horse troughing, discipline raids, shower punishments, pillow case judgements, fit into your we were so great theory.
I still haven’t had any bosses like those you constantly insist are behind every door and under every bed.
My opinions are what they are. When you have the litany of problems in the outfit like there is blame starts at the top and works it’s way down.
I never said the old para military days were perfect, not sure where you got that. I just think they were better than what you have now. I think there is more of a culture of entitlement now days with the “I/me” mentality and don’t think the same level of honor exists. The past may not have been pretty, but atleast the cards were on the table. Though I don’t agree with Mobbing or Bullying” where members go around ruining the careers of others behind their backs, I have no problem with telling a slug to get their shit together to their face. I am not considered the most tactful, but nobody can ever say I stabbed them in the back either.
I am not one for whiners. I believe in shutting your mouth, and doing your job. But, like the jist of my previous post “whiners vs wavemakers” conveyed, that exception was blatant abuse. That is different. In years back when the wages and benefits weren’t so good, there was no social media or charter to back them up- members didn’t make waves, they just quit.
By the way, you want to take shots at me for my distrust of the “whiteshirts”. Well, they as a group have a very dark history of betraying members trust. A few decades back they would have tape recorders placed under the beds of members they suspected of homosexuality. Look at the Ken Smith case where a Superintendent wasted $50k in surveillance costs to harass that poor man and try and ruin his career. http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/rcmp/operation_harassment.html I personally know a credible member who had nothing but good assessments his whole career, suffers a job related injury and then gets harassed into retirement. Yes, there were extra close tabs put on him among other things….
Like any other outfit, the RCMP has the very best and the very worst. But, I am at odds on how they handle the latter group. I don’t want anyone to take what I say at face value about the outfit, I encourage any and everyone to do their own research. Go listen to the Ken Smiths, the Mike Websters or the people listed in the law suits. As far as forums go, this is a pretty small pond with a small group of regulars. LP, if you are really sincere about people “qualifying” things they say, you should go after the big fish on their turf. The ones who are talking in larger media forums and making the headlines….
The present day management team is the result of the “good ol’ boys club” in action. They didn’t get there because they were “good policemen”, they ass-kissed their way to the top and as a result we have the stupid, incompetent, the lazy and the undeserving running the organization. Those like Paulson should look in the mirror when they refer to “rotton apples”.
The force was always well respected and as a result of these “bag-licks” has turned into an “organization of deceit”.
There’s more honor within the criminal element than in the senior management of the RCMP and I can qualify that by saying on average 90% of the so called “bad guys” end up telling the truth to some extent when caught, senior management NEVER tells the truth.” The force has evolved into an organization of deceit driven by incompetence at the helm and as we all know ” suckholes breed suckholes.”