RCMP Watch

Cristin Schmitz
CanWest News Service
Tuesday, May 30, 2006

OTTAWA - The retired civilian watchdog over the RCMP says the Martin government “didn’t want any waves” and tried to “shut her up” by offering to continue her salary if she stepped down early.

Shirley Heafey, the lawyer who chaired the RCMP Public Complaints Commission for eight years until last October, said she had an “absolutely dreadful” time due to what she called “direct interference” by the Martin government with her independent role.

In allegations denied by former government officials, Heafey said she and her office were audited “to death” and there was an effort to forestall a public hearing by her commission into allegations that the Mounties covered up sexual abuse by an RCMP staff sergeant at the now-defunct Kingsclear youth training centre in New Brunswick.

“The political climate, and the high-level executives in the public service, really made my life extremely difficult,” Heafey says in an exclusive interview with The Lawyers Weekly. “The deputy prime minister’s office and the people in the Privy Council Office were quite concerned about the fact that I had to say what I had to say.”

Heafey contended “they made a lot of requests to me about the work I was doing (and) you know you don’t challenge the RCMP without accepting that you may have to pay a price. They are a national icon … and the government, in the last two years under Mr. (then-prime minister Paul) Martin, was very touchy about some of the things I did. They were trying to remind me to shut up.”

Heafey singled out what she saw as a lack of co-operation and support by then-deputy prime minister Anne McLellan, who as minister of public safety was responsible for the RCMP.

“She was very, very supportive of the RCMP and she didn’t want any waves while the government was in a minority position, and I made waves whenever I had to,” commented Heafey, who during her tenure criticized the RCMP for car chases that injured innocent bystanders and warned of looming disaster if Parliament fails to implement civilian oversight of the Mounties’ burgeoning role in national security.

In the interview, Heafey also describes RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli as “a bit of a bully” who resisted turning over files.

“He just didn’t co-operate. We met regularly and he said: ‘You don’t have the right to this information and I am the one who decides what you get,’” Heafey complained.

“What kind of oversight is that? And, if the RCMP resisted, there was nothing I could do, and there was no support from the minister so I ended up having to go to court to try to clarify the (RCMP) legislation.”

Heafey said she believes McLellan was concerned about an investigation launched by Heafey in May 2004 into allegations that the RCMP failed in the 1990s to properly investigate alleged sexual abuse at Kingsclear, a probe carried out under Zaccardelli’s supervision as head of criminal operations in New Brunswick.

“There are allegations of coverup and (the Liberals) were very, very concerned about that, and I guess they figured if (Heafey) uncovers something it may look bad for us,” she said.

Heafey said that when she met on July 7, 2005, with McLellan’s chief of staff, Hilary Geller, and Peter Simeoni, the acting assistant secretary to the cabinet for senior personnel matters, “there was a lot of pressure” for her to leave before her term ended Oct. 20.

“I was still pushing for (a public hearing into) Kingsclear and they wanted me out,” she alleged. “They said: ‘Well if you are going to leave, why don’t you leave now and we will give you your full salary and all of that and you can just stay home and do whatever you like.’”

Heafey responded with an e-mail to the Privy Council Office indicating she was “most uncomfortable” with the offer and would serve out her term.

The Privy Council Office refused comment on Heafey’s charge, stating the government considers discussions it has with individuals about their employment confidential.

In an interview, Zaccardelli expressed surprise and “disappointment” at Heafey’s complaints, which he said she never aired with him. He pointed out the RCMP implemented “more than 85 per cent” of her recommendations and that the Federal Court upheld the RCMP’s decision not to disclose to Heafey some material in police files.

In her annual reports, Heafey herself noted that the RCMP “immediately co-operated” with the Kingsclear investigation by providing 27,000 relevant documents. She also acknowledged disagreements with Zaccardelli were “to be expected” and thanked him for “frequently” exceeding the requirements of the RCMP Act.

Geller, a spokesperson for McLellan, denied all of Heafey’s allegations.

“We all respected her independent role 100 per cent,” insisted Geller, who was McLellan’s chief of staff for 12 years. “Neither McLellan, myself or anybody in our office tried in any way to tell Shirley what she should or shouldn’t do. And I think for her to speculate that Treasury Board audits were some how Anne McLellan trying to interfere is simply baseless speculation. That’s absolutely 100 per cent false.”

Geller stated there was “absolutely not” any desire or attempt by McLellan or anyone else in the government to avert a public hearing into Kingsclear, noting that last year, at Heafey’s request, McLellan approved more than $3 million in special funding for the Kingsclear investigation, the largest in the commission’s history.

“Anne McLellan has the utmost respect for the independence of independent agencies,” said Geller. “It was up to Shirley what happened on Kingsclear. There were no discussions with McLellan or … me, or anybody in our office, that would indicate to her that anybody was anything other than supportive of her exercising her independent mandate in the way in which she saw fit.”