RCMP's new harassment process hampered by lack of independent investigators: union head
Christopher Nardi 

© Provided by National Post Members of the RCMP stand at attention during a Remembrance Day ceremony in Iqaluit, Nunavut, on November 11, 2021.

OTTAWA – The head of the RCMP’s union says there are still significant challenges and delays with the new harassment investigation process because the government is struggling to find enough independent investigators.

“The new harassment process under the Canada Labour Code is showing to be a challenge with respect to timeliness of investigation. There are not enough independent investigators,” Brian Sauvé, head of the National Police Federation (NPF), told National Post in an interview.

“We have a (memorandum of understanding) with the RCMP which details some of the qualifications of those investigators, but they haven’t been able to find enough to deal with the number of files coming in.”

On Jan. 1, 2021, Bill C-65 regarding workplace harassment and violence prevention came into effect, imposing a series of new rules and procedures on all federally-regulated workplaces that are meant to speed up and better protect victims during internal harassment or violence complaints.

Among them, complaints must be resolved within one year and, in the case of the RCMP, will now be handed over to independent investigators (instead of other police members or forces) to ensure that the process is “fair and impartial”.

Allegations of rampant bullying and harassment have plagued the federal police force for decades as victims and experts called for an overhaul of the RCMP’s complaint system.

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In 2020, a federal court certified a $1.1 billion class action lawsuit alleging “systemic negligence” in how the force handled those types of complaints.

But one year after the reform entered into force, the government has only found about 45 of the “60 to 70” approved firms needed to make sure complaints are heard and resolved in a timely manner, Sauvé says.

Though he’s certain the new system is better for his members, Sauvé says there have been some frustrations tied to “growing pains”. The continuing delays in handling harassment complaints is certainly frustrating impacted RCMP members.

“One file (can take) considerable amount of resources for a firm,” he explained, noting that the government has been actively working to boost those numbers as quickly as possible.

“The sales pitch was: ‘This will be fantastic, this is great, this is new, it’ll be done faster.’ And now we’re starting to realize that oh, it might take another year before we have capacity to live up to our sales pitch,” Sauvé said. “But we’re moving in the right direction.”

Another issue related to internal complaints within the police force is the grievance process.

“We have a number of challenges internally with the grievance process, which takes forever if a member has an individual grievance,” Sauvé said.

The force is also facing an increasingly fractured relationship with many indigenous communities, namely in Western Canada.

The head of the RCMP members’ union also said cultural changes are happening — albeit slowly — within the force, namely to address issues such as systemic racism. He also says he was “surprised” when RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki at first hesitated in 2020 to recognize it was a problem in the force.

“I think it’s an issue in Canada and we can’t escape that. Racism or systemic racism is something that is abhorrent and should be abhorrent to any Canadian,” Sauvé said. “I think the RCMP is quite receptive and responsive to changes and the priorities of Canadian communities.”

Last year was a busy one for the NPF, which just finished its second year of existence last summer. One of its biggest mandates was to sign members’ first ever collective bargaining agreement, which included significant pay hikes for a majority of members.

National Post reported last July that constables would receive a $20,000 hike to their top salary beginning in April, which the union argues brings them in line with provincial and municipal police service pay levels.

Though the increased pay may help the RCMP address its staff attraction and retention issue that has plagued it for years, it may have the perverse effect of making it less attractive to provinces and municipalities — such as Alberta or Surrey, B.C. — who are respectively considering or actively creating their own police forces.

“Is there a risk that we will price ourselves out of market? That’s a good question. I don’t think so, mainly because of the surge capacity and the critical mass ability of the RCMP” which has access to resources all over the country, Sauvé said.

But he also thinks that questions about the RCMP’s value as a local police force are pushing the organization to do some tough but important introspection about its service offer.

“I like the idea of renewing our service delivery. I like the idea of provincial and municipal leaders questioning how the services are delivered, because it puts us and the organization into a position where they have to reassess and they have to self-assess,” he said.

“Perhaps they haven’t done the best job in advertising how good they are within Alberta, within Surrey, within New Brunswick. So we’re trying to help them along and show citizens that we believe that this is a really good police service and you can’t do much better elsewhere.”

• Email: cnardi@postmedia.com | Twitter: ChrisGNardi