(Canadian Press) Vancouver, B.C. - The civilian commissioner of the RCMP admits he faces an uphill battle as he tries to rebuild public trust, but he insisted Wednesday that Canadians still support the iconic national police force.
William Elliott said there are “significant challenges” that must be overcome if the RCMP is to enjoy the confidence of the public.
Chief among them, he said, is to ensure there is sufficient independent oversight of the force.
“As you all know we are an organization that is often criticized, sometimes that criticism is well-based, sometimes it is not,” Elliott told members of the Vancouver Board of Trade.
“But I think from my perspective, the more credible the independent review of our activities, our policies, our operations can be, the more credible the RCMP can be.”
Elliott’s appointment last year came as the force’s image took a beating from a highly publicized pension scandal, its role in the Maher Arar affair and the death of a man stunned with a Taser at the Vancouver airport.
There have been more recent embarrassments, including drunk-driving allegations against an officer after a fatal crash in B.C. last month, and a public apology last week over a case involving the killing of a New Brunswick university professor.
And even as Elliott spoke in Vancouver on Wednesday, a public inquiry in Vernon, B.C., was examining what happened last year when RCMP officers shot and killed a 24-year-old man who had schizophrenia.
Elliott said the RCMP takes such incidents seriously, and thorough, independent investigations are essential to putting the public’s mind at ease.
Still, he cited yearly internal polling data that he said pegs the RCMP’s public approval at 85 per cent.
“I think we continue to enjoy very, very strong support from Canadians and the communities we serve,” he said after the board of trade event.
“Certainly we’re quite anxious to learn as much as we can and to take whatever reasonable steps we can to reduce such incidents in the future.”
In the face of increasing public criticism, the federal government formed a task force in 2007 to review the force.
The group, led by Toronto lawyer David Brown, released a report in December 2007 that called for sweeping changes, including making the force more autonomous and reducing its bloated bureaucracy, increasing civilian oversight and creating a more powerful body to investigate public complaints.
Earlier this year, the federal government appointed a civilian panel to oversee the implementation of Brown’s recommendations.
Elliott said the RCMP is taking those recommendations seriously and taking its own steps to change the structure and culture of the force.
“We are taking a robust and business-like approach to change that will build a stronger RCMP,” Elliott said during his address.
5 responses so far ↓
1 Alcan // Nov 15, 2008 at 13:12
I read an article yesterday from the CBC about the UK wanting to come over and train the RCMP as they found that the organazation had problems with race in the ranks.
I think they shouldn’t think about it maybe if the UK could give them their word that very little changes would be done within the ellect then maybe they would be invited.
Here’s the article; http://www.cbc.ca/canada/saskatchewan/story/2008/11/14/rcmp-cadet.html
I hope all of this sends a clear message to the people that these ranks and files did not get into this huge mess over night but they were allowed to become such an embarasements to us Canadians that nothing but huge changes must be done if it’s still possible to restore the publics trust.
I know if someone killed my child, lied about the event and then tried to get out of being accountable I would hardly be able to trust them again and this and some other cases accross Canada projected the aweful truth that we cann’t trust what we are told by this force who are there in courts accross this country to tell us the truth and be accountable even under oath as it was in Ottawa with the former Commissioner’s proceedings.
Then just lately it reproduced itself again in Fredericton, New Brunswick when the Fredericton University Professor’s life was not valued when he received treaths and he was killed.
Sorry it’s just to much and these cases are not minor infractions innocent people are dying here.
2 Deepthroat // Nov 16, 2008 at 16:57
Claptrap. One person does not make it through training and already the scream of racism. In my community there are Chinese, Aghan, Black, Native and white cops. I guess they must have missed those ones eh?
More “chicken little” ravings.
3 Onegin1 // Nov 19, 2008 at 20:06
Indeed.
I’ve read the full Human Rights Tribunal report, and it truly was a farce. Mr. Tahmourpour was throwing accusations at nearly all of his facilitators, to the point where the Tribunal had to acknowledge the deceptive nature of some of his claims. Yet they still sided with him because they found on the “balance of probablities” that ONE facilitator exhibited racial bias and prejudice.
4 jaysearson // Nov 20, 2008 at 01:19
I think it is time to revamp the rcmp and take it out of the policing scheme of BC we could have our own version of the OPP for a lot less tax dollars . This might be the wake up call that the force needs to start off with some accountability.To the people not the prime minister of the day.
5 Deepthroat // Nov 20, 2008 at 21:23
Human Rights Tribunal. Almost as bad a military intelligence. Open air Star Chamber and thought police. George Orwell must be laughing in his grave.
The HRT should have sat in on a drill class 20 years ago. Or maybe a midnight stand to inspection?
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