Ottawa commits to keeping Mounties on front lines, says fixing federal policing is priority
CBC
After months of uncertainty hanging over the RCMP, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree says the government is committed to keeping Mounties in the business of day-to-day policing across the country — while signalling that improving the federal crimes wing is his priority.
"Bottom line is, we could do both," said Anandasangaree in an interview on Tuesday about the future of the storied — but troubled — national police force. The interview was conducted before news broke of the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., where the RCMP are the lead investigators.
The ability of the RCMP to do both local and federal policing has been called into question in recent years.
Multiple reports have concluded the RCMP's sprawling mandate is straining the institution, with resources being pulled from federal cases to local ones.
The National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) told the Liberal government in 2023 that the RCMP's current mandate is undermining its ability to pursue some of its most pressing and complex investigations, including foreign interference, organized crime and terrorism.
That same year the Mass Casualty Commission, which investigated the April 2020 massacre in Nova Scotia that killed 22 people, put out a report calling on the public safety minister to review and restructure the RCMP.
Former prime minister Justin Trudeau used his final days in office to call for reform, arguing the split focus is straining the RCMP and "maybe not the best use of our resources."
He argued the Mounties should focus on challenges like national security, violent extremism and terrorism, money laundering, cybercrime and organized crime.
In a departure from his former leader's position, Anandasangaree said the federal government is committed to "meet the provinces where they're at" when they discuss renewing their RCMP contracts.
The current agreements expire in 2032 and he said renegotiations will start in "due course."
But the minister suggested reforming federal policing will be this government's priority when it comes to the nearly 153-year-old institution.
"What I'm focused on primarily is to ensure our federal policing mandate is secured and entrenched," said Anandasangaree.
Sitting on the minister's desk is a proposal from RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme to "rebuild the federal policing program," while keeping Mounties in front-line roles.
One of Duheme's major asks is to insulate federal policing's finances and resources — which he says are in "a steady state of erosion" — while still being an integrated national police force that's able to deploy during emergencies.
WARNING: This story discusses child sexual abuse material and contains graphic details of alleged sexual assault
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