The watchdog body meant to investigate Mounties’ conduct has been without a chairperson for months, stalling investigations and weakening transparency about how the country’s police force interacts with Canadians across the country.
The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC) has for decades been the body overseeing the national police force. But it has been unable to issue decisions for nearly a year now.
It’s slated to be rolled into a new organization, the Public Complaints and Review Commission (PCRC), which will review claims against both RCMP and border officers.
Parliament passed legislation creating that agency last Halloween. But the government still hasn’t given any indication when the PCRC will be up and running.
Further complicating matters, the CRCC’s chair left the agency in January after her term was up and in the wake of a troubling internal report into the commission’s “toxic workplace.” Other senior roles, including vice-chairperson, are also vacant according to the CRCC’s website.
While teams of investigators and lawyers are still working, a spokesperson for the CRCC said the review body is unable to issue any decisions in the absence of a chair or other senior decision-makers.
As of Oct. 21, the CRCC said it had 235 review and investigation files awaiting a decision.
“Justice delayed is justice denied and that applies here,” said Tom Engel, a lawyer and chair of the Criminal Trial Lawyers Association’s policing committee.
He’s spent years advocating for changes to the process meant to keep RCMP members accountable and has helped clients file complaints to the CRCC.
“I imagine a lot of people just throw up, throw their hands up in the air and figure, well, what can I do?” he said of the delays.
“It basically undermines confidence in the RCMP accountability system.”
The reviews in the logjam are on par with the number of reports the CRCC has released annually. During the last fiscal year, it issued 203 reports.
In 2023-24, the CRCC issued 246 review reports, with 381 findings and 184 recommendations. In the name of transparency, the watchdog makes depersonalized summaries of those findings public.
While most reports are triggered by complaints from the public, the chairperson can also initiate reviews.
Over the years the CRCC’s findings and recommendations have touched on key policing issues, like the Mounties’ handling of protests, use of force and abuse of power.
For example, the review body found the RCMP seriously interfered with press freedoms, unreasonably blocked media access and arbitrarily detained a reporter during the 2020 raid on Wet’suwet’en-led blockades in northern British Columbia.
It also has called out what it calls “unreasonable” use of force during wellness checks and has repeatedly found Mounties are not properly investigating sexual assault allegations.
The watchdog has also sided with the RCMP in hundreds of cases over the years.
The union representing front-line Mounties is also concerned by the slowdown.
“The lack of a chair and the inability within current legislation to appoint an acting chair, during the search for a replacement, has shown to be problematic — leading to further delays in the completion of CRCC files which creates unfair stress for members and others involved,” said Brian Sauvé, president of the National Police Federation.
A spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s office said the government “is in the process” of appointing a new chair.
“Our priority is ensuring that this new commission is set up with the leadership and resources it needs to do its important work effectively,” said Simon Lafortune in a statement to CBC News.
“An announcement will be made in due course.”
Whoever the government appoints is walking into a workplace recovering from low morale in recent years.
According to a report from The Canadian Press, Public Safety hired an independent workplace investigator after receiving an anonymous complaint from an employee in 2023.
The resulting workplace assessment found “a call for change and action at the leadership level to restore credibility and trust within the organization.”
The report, obtained by the wire service through an access to information request, said employees generally felt engaged by their work, but a significant number felt overwhelmed by their workloads.
There were also multiple complaints of “a toxic work environment” due to the behaviour and practices of leadership.
The slowdown is just the latest footnote in the saga of standing up the new commission.
The notion of a watchdog body for Canada Border Services Agency officers — who can detain travellers and sometimes carry firearms — has received bipartisan support dating back to at least 2019, but previous versions of the bill have died on the order paper.
