(Toronto Star Editorial) – The federal government set aside $8 million in its budget to provide “enhanced” oversight for the scandal-battered Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Good. But Canadians are still wondering what exactly the government has in mind.
The March 4 budget said the government plans to create a new “civilian independent complaints commission.” It would replace the weak Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, which can’t fully probe the Mounties’ many activities, much less review or audit the force’s programs and policies. But Public Safety Minister Vic Toews has yet to spell out just what extra powers the new body will have or how it will work.
Since before the Conservatives came to power in Ottawa, it has been clear that closer oversight is needed. The RCMP has bungled the Air India case, misused stun guns, put Maher Arar’s life at risk and punished whistleblowers.
Paul Kennedy, former head of the complaints commission, has said that a new body should have the power to review all RCMP activities and files, subpoena documents and compel witnesses to testify. That’s not the case now. Other critics, including Senator Colin Kenny, have argued that in the sensitive area of RCMP security activities, Ottawa could empower the Security Intelligence Review Committee, which now oversees CSIS, to vet the Mounties as well.
Whatever shape reform takes, after all this time, it begins by letting Parliament and the public in on the plan.
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