Campbell Clark, Globe and Mail
New RCMP Commissioner William Elliott intends to shake up the force’s senior ranks as the Mounties undergo a period of reform.On his first day in the job less than a month ago, Mr. Elliott asked the head of the RCMP’s northwest region, Deputy Commissioner Bill Sweeney, to serve as his second-in-command overseeing policing operations.
But at a formal-change-of-command ceremony in Ottawa yesterday, the new commissioner acknowledged that he plans to shuffle his senior executive team. “I think there will be [changes]. I guess there’s already been one change, and others will follow,” he said. “I expect over the coming weeks and months there will be further changes, but I must say that the support that I’ve received and the quality of the men and women around my executive table has been superb.”
The RCMP has suffered a series of bruising scandals, notably the Maher Arar affair and abuses of its pension fund.
Both Mr. Justice Dennis O’Connor, who headed the Arar inquiry, and lawyer David Brown, the government-appointed investigator into the pension-fund scandal, recommended sweeping changes to the way the force operates.
Mr. Brown sharply criticized ex-commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli – who quit last December over conflicting testimony on the Arar affair – labelling him an autocrat who used an outdated command-and-control style.
But some Mounties have argued that the senior ranks need a broader shakeup, even though several of the senior officers who surrounded Mr. Zaccardelli have already left.
Yesterday, at a formal change-of-command ceremony in Ottawa, outgoing interim commissioner Bev Busson, in a dress red serge uniform, handed the commissioner’s ceremonial tipstaff – a metal-tipped baton of office – to Mr. Elliott, who wore a black suit.
He later told reporters that since being sworn in on July 16, he has spoken to many supportive RCMP members.
“As I go across the country and visit with women and men in detachments and in our workplaces across the country, no one is telling me that the RCMP is perfect. And I’m quite encouraged that they’re all saying, ‘let’s figure out where we need to improve, and let’s make those improvements.’ ”
Mr. Elliott was the only speaker at the ceremony to mention Mr. Zaccardelli – he cited the former commissioner’s own inaugural words on the daunting task of leading the force.
He later declined to offer a view on whether Mr. Zaccardelli had been a good commissioner.
Instead, he said one of his most important priorities will be working with the task force, also headed by Mr. Brown, appointed to recommend ways to revamp the RCMP to make it more open and accountable. They have until December.
Mr. Elliott has already made his mark in another area, arguing for safety first over tradition: mounted patrols on Parliament Hill.
Red-serge-clad Mounties on horseback have long trotted on the lanes of the parliamentary precinct, but this summer they have been confined to a paddock area on the Hill grounds for fear that a Mountie’s steed might accidentally bowl over an unaware tourist.
“There have been a number of close calls and we think for the safety of the public we should change how we operate there with our horses,” he said. “I guess in a way it’s too bad, but better that we make a change and avoid somebody being hurt or seriously injured.”
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