(CBC) – The head of the Canadian Firearms Program, who is a strong supporter of the long-gun registry, is quietly being bounced out of the position, CBC News has learned.
RCMP Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak, director general of the program, is being sent off to French language training after nine months on the job on orders from RCMP Commissioner William Elliott, according to police sources.
The Canadian Firearms Program (CFP) oversees the administration of the Firearms Act and regulations. In 2006, the responsibility for the CFP was transferred to the RCMP.
Cheliak had reformed the program and lobbied forcefully, including before a parliamentary committee, for a continued long-gun registry, something the Conservative government has been determined to scrap.
But Canadian police are adamant that the registry, which requires gun owners to register each rifle or shotgun, is needed to protect the lives of police officers and citizens.
Cheliak’s key contribution has been to guide the country’s three main police alliances — the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police, the Canadian Police Association and the Canadian Association of Police Boards — into a common front to fight for registration.
“Marty’s contribution has been enormous. First of all, Marty has made the firearms program in Ottawa work,” said William Blair, president of the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and Toronto’s police chief.
Blair said officers must be free to speak out on such a vital issue.
“There’s clearly a political discussion to this decision. The police are committed to staying out of politics. We’ll leave the politics to the politicians,” Blair said. “We’re in the business of public safety. And we have a responsibility to the people we are sworn to serve and protect.”
Some police officers are questioning Cheliak’s removal on the eve of September’s expected battle in Parliament over a Conservative private member’s bill to scrap the current registry.
“I question why he’s been transferred and who has made this decision to transfer him,” said Charles Momy, president of the Canadian Police Association. “But it seems interesting that all of a sudden this transfer occurs when we know the vote is coming on this bill.
“I can tell you from a Canadian Police Association perspective, this is a huge loss. To the Canadian Firearms Program perspective, this is a huge loss to the Canadian public.”
CBC’s Brian Stewart reported that Cheliak was set to unveil a major report before the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police at their annual general meeting in Edmonton and get a president’s award for his work on the long-gun registry.
But Stewart said Cheliak was told by the RCMP he’s not going to be sent there.
“And that, more than anything almost, has convinced a lot of police chiefs, normally on the side of this government, to say this is a slapdown, and this is really unnecessary, and we don’t like it,” Stewart said.
The RCMP said that Cheliak did have to take the French language lessons at some point and that he’s doing that now.
“Every police officer I’ve talked to thinks there’s political interference here. Can’t put their finger on it,” Stewart said.
“They can’t really prove anything, but there’s a feeling here that Cheliak was too outspoken. It was the wrong time. The government wanted the RCMP particularly to cool it at this stage and Cheliak was sort of made an example.”
Meet the Tory hit list
Jill Mahoney
Globe and Mail
August 18, 2010
The Conservative government’s treatment of officials with dissenting views is under fire.
The following high-ranking people have left their jobs in the past few months. They have variously resigned, been sacked or replaced, or not had their appointments renewed.
Marty Cheliak
The RCMP Chief Superintendent is being replaced as head of the Canadian Firearms Program, the Mounties confirmed on Wednesday. The official reason: The position is designated bilingual and he’s not.
Chief Supt. Cheliak, who became director of the program a year ago, is a strong proponent of the controversial long-gun registry, which the Conservatives have long vowed to scrap. But at a news conference in Halifax, Prime Minister Stephen Harper called the decision to remove him an RCMP “staffing” issue. “It’s not a political matter,” he said.
The move comes just days before the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police annual meeting in Edmonton, where Chief Supt. Cheliak was to present a major report that was expected to underline the effectiveness of the long-gun registry. As well, a crucial House of Commons vote on the future of the registry is to take place Sept. 22.
Pat Stogran
The federal government is not renewing the retired colonel’s three-year term as ombudsman because it’s time for a new advocate to offer new perspectives, Veterans Affairs Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn says. “It will be good for our veterans and good for our department.”
At Tuesday press conference, Col. Stogran claimed he was mere “window dressing” for an “obstructive and deceptive” bureaucracy. He promised veterans he would use his remaining three months on the job to make sure Canadians “know how badly so many of you are being treated.”
Col. Stogran was appointed Canada’s first veterans ombudsman in 2007. His three-year term expires the day before Remembrance Day.
Munir Sheikh The career civil servant resigned as Canada’s chief statistician to protest against Ottawa’s controversial decision to kill the mandatory long-form census. Mr. Sheikh quit July 21 after Industry Minister Tony Clement created the impression he was onside with the decision to abandon a compulsory long-form census.
“It really cast doubt on the integrity of the agency,” Mr. Sheikh later told a House of Commons committee. “And I, as the head of that agency, cannot survive in that job.”
Helena Guergis
As Prime Minister Stephen Harper called in the Mounties, Ms. Guergis resigned as minister of state for the status of women and was expelled from the Conservative caucus on April 9. The surprise moves happened after a private investigator passed on allegations involving Ms. Guergis’s husband, Rahim Jaffer.
In July, the RCMP announced it had closed its files on the embattled couple without laying charges. But Mr. Harper refused to allow Ms. Guergis, who now sits as an independent MP, to rejoin caucus and she’ll have to wage a major fight to run under the Conservative Party’s banner in the next election.
Others who have been fired or replaced under Tories
Peter Tinsley
The contract of the former chairman of the Military Police Complaints Commission was not renewed when it expired in December. He said Ottawa’s refusal to extend his term so he could finish investigating the alleged torture of detainees in Afghanistan contributes to a “chilling effect” on cabinet-appointed watchdogs.
Linda Keen
The former head of the Canadian Nuclear Safety Commission was fired in January, 2008, over leadership issues after she refused to back the reopening of a nuclear reactor in Chalk River, Ont., because Atomic Energy of Canada had not performed safety upgrades. Mr. Harper branded her a Liberal partisan.
Paul Kennedy
The term of the former chairman of the Commission for Public Complains Against the RCMP was not renewed in December. Mr. Kennedy had issued scathing reports about RCMP conduct.
Mountie in charge of gun registry removed
Bruce Campion-Smith
Toronto Star
August 18, 2010
Ottawa – A senior RCMP officer who was shuffled out as head of Canada’s gun registry after publicly defending its usefulness is the latest civil servant to pay the price of running afoul of the Conservative government, critics charge.
Chief Supt. Marty Cheliak is being sent for French language training, just a year after taking over as director of the RCMP’s Canadian Firearms Program, which includes the controversial gun registry.
The move comes ahead of a parliamentary debate this fall over the fate of the long gun registry, which federal Conservatives oppose and want to scrap.
Just last May, Cheliak said the program – and the registry – “does serve a very real purpose and contributes to police officer safety and the safety of all Canadians.”
He pointedly warned that warned that scrapping the long gun registry could allow stockpiles of weapons – now automatically flagged by the system – to go unnoticed.
“Without the database of registered long guns, the door may be open to unlimited and unmonitored stockpiling of long guns for individuals and groups,” he told the Commons committee on public safety.
On Wednesday, officials in the police community were stunned to learn that Cheliak was being replaced since he didn’t “meet the linguistic requirements of the position,” according to the RCMP.
Yet critics said the senior officer is just the latest in a string of public servants who’ve been forced from their posts after running afoul of the Conservative government. They cite former Statistics Canada head Munir Sheikh, who quit in the dispute over the long form census, and Pat Stogran, the outspoken ombudsman for veterans whose term was not renewed.
“Any time you speak out against this government, or you have an opinion that doesn’t fit their ideology and talking points, you either find yourself fired or shovelled to a corner,” said Liberal MP Mark Holland, the party’s public safety critic.
“It’s a fundamental attack on democracy.”
He said it’s no coincidence that Cheliak was sidelined just weeks before parliamentary debate is set to resume.
Greg Dionne, president of the Canadian Association of Police Boards, said he was “disappointed” and “shocked” by the news.
“If you don’t agree with the stand of the government, you’re going to be banished,” he said in a telephone interview.
“My heart goes out to Marty because he worked really hard on the long gun registry. To be silenced by the government is just shocking,” he said. “What upsets me is that the RCMP is supposed to be arm’s length from the government.”
Charles Momy, president of the Canadian Police Association, said that Cheliak had worked hard to improve the operation of the firearms program, which has a focus on firearms safety, and the registry itself.
“If we can improve the Canadian Firearms Program, if we can improve the gun registry, then ultimately the winners of all that are the public and the police,” Momy said.
“That’s really what Marty Cheliak has done since he took over,” he said.
He questioned the timing of Cheliak’s job shuffle, noting that he was scheduled to give a presentation on firearms safety to the annual meeting of Canadian police chiefs next week.
“Was it so important that he had to be on French language training this week,” Momy said.
Prime Minister Stephen Harper acknowledged the government’s opposition to the long run registry but insisted the staffing shuffle was made by the RCMP alone.
“This government strongly favours the abolition of the long gun registry for farmers and duck hunters. It is wasteful. It has been ineffective. That will continue to be our position,” Harper said Wednesday during a stop in Nova Scotia.
“But in terms of staffing decisions in the RCMP, these are made by the RCMP themselves,” he said.
Still, the shuffle means more trouble for the national police force, which is already struggling after an unprecedented revolt by senior RCMP brass against their civilian boss Bill Elliott’s “abrasive” and “verbally abusive” leadership style.
The Conservatives were forced to hire former CSIS director Reid Morden to do a workplace assessment.
Momy questioned whether it’s time for new leadership at the top of the force.
“I think the Canadian public is smart enough to see that the RCMP is in big difficulty right now. Is it time to bring in a fresh face?” Momy said.
“I think Elliott should be thinking about his future and doing what’s best for the RCMP.”