“We are unique. I don’t think there is another police force in the world that carries out federal, provincial and municipal functions at the same time. But in 2023 it will stop working. It is not effective and we need to change the way we do things. »
Posted at 5:00 am.
New Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Mike Duheme gave a long and rare in-depth interview to La Presse in our offices last week.
Duheme, who was appointed top chief of the RCMP for a maximum of two years following the departure of his predecessor Brenda Lucki last March, has made restructuring Canada’s police force a priority.
PHOTO FRANÇOIS ROY, THE PRESS
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme during his visit to the offices of La Presse last Wednesday
Since the RCMP’s founding in 1873, mounted police officers – as they are commonly known – have conducted federal investigations, acted as territorial and provincial police officers except in Quebec and Ontario, patrolled 150 Canadian cities, responded to calls and stood guard at borders.
But in 2023, this model no longer holds water in the face of new threats posed by sophisticated crime: foreign interference, national security, foreign or domestic terrorism, international money laundering, cybercrime, transnational organized crime, etc.
The primary mission of the RCMP’s federal investigation must be to combat these crimes.
But currently, of the 19,000 RCMP officers across the country, fewer than 3,000 are assigned to the “federal program” that Mike Duheme calls “the FBI of the North,” which brings together investigators to fight the crimes listed above. “It is certain that it is not enough,” complains the commissioner.
The lack of resources is blatant and affects the capacity of our federal police. The files we have are non-negotiable. In all the parliamentary committees to which I am invited, we do not talk about the gendarmerie. We talk about foreign interference, borders, cybercrime, etc.
Mike Duheme, Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Investigations that fail
When an extraordinary situation arises in Canada, such as a G7 summit, the Olympic Games or mass immigration to Roxham Road, investigators from the FBI North are called in, sometimes taking them away from their primary mission for long periods of time.
And when the government calls for cuts to the RCMP, it’s still federal investigations that suffer, Duheme says, not the services provided to provinces and cities.
“In the last decade we have lost more than 1,000 resources because there was less money. We’ve had to review our stuff and lost a lot of our expertise in the programs that we now have to rebuild. »
Four headquarters
Reconstruction specifically means replacing the current divisions in each of the ten provinces with four regional headquarters: the Pacific (British Columbia and Yukon), the West (Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba), the Central (Ontario) and the East (Quebec and ). the Atlantic provinces).
PHOTO CHRIS WATTIE, Portal ARCHIVE
RCMP officers monitor access to Parliament Hill during a shooting in Ottawa in October 2014
“Currently, our provincial investigative resources are not working on federal program priorities. They are funded by the program but are used in every capacity and work on provincial crimes. Meanwhile, in Montreal they have their hands full with foreign interference, and the program’s investigators in Ontario and British Columbia are also busy. “That is why we are taking back resources and funding and redistributing them to the centers that need them,” explains Mr. Duheme, who hopes that these changes will avoid regular outflows and ensure the integrity of the federal program.
Presence in cities and provinces
And the gendarmerie services the RCMP provides in cities and provinces other than Quebec and Ontario? The RCMP will continue to offer them, Mr. Duheme says.
Although some major cities such as Surrey, British Columbia and provinces have decided or are considering having their own municipal or provincial police force, Mike Duheme believes the RCMP will have no choice but to continue to have a presence in certain regions and territories.
“But wouldn’t it be best if the RCMP stopped doing provincial and municipal policing at all and only investigated federal crimes? », La Presse asked the commissioner.
“It is up to the government to take a stand and decide what services the RCMP should provide,” Mr. Duheme responded.
Adapted training
In addition to its structure, the RCMP is also making significant changes to recruiting and training that are already being felt.
For years, every new hire must first complete six months of basic training at Depot, the RCMP academy in Regina, Saskatchewan.
“At the Dépôt they prepare our people excellently for patrol operations, but it is not “guided” for federal investigations,” notes Mr. Duheme.
Now a new candidate can choose – on the RCMP website – between the gendarmerie, investigations and dignitary protection; The six-month training is no longer mandatory or different in scope for the last two categories, and recruits are no longer required to emigrate to another province – sometimes for years – before returning to their own province.
Following this announcement, the RCMP launched a pilot project and created positions in the Dignity Protection Division. She had already received 265 applications within 24 hours and 1,500 after two weeks.
The times have changed
“In the past, recruits only knew where they wanted to go in the third month of their six-month training at Depot. “That’s impossible, we can’t do that anymore,” explains the big boss of the RCMP.
If you recruit a member of visible communities, send them to the Dépôt and then to another region, it makes no sense. Instead, let him return to his community and become an ambassador. May he have a positive influence.
Mike Duheme, Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police
For Mr. Duheme, there is no question of changing the basic requirements for admission to the RCMP: a Secondary 5 diploma and a driver’s license. Applicants who have completed university education and no police training are also welcome.
“The basic criteria will not change. If we want to employ indigenous people, not everyone has had the opportunity to take university courses.
“And if you look at the FBI model in the United States, you see that they don’t necessarily recruit police officers. With a new approach, we can begin to target universities or elsewhere. That is our goal,” concludes Mr. Duheme.
To contact Daniel Renaud, call 514 285-7000, extension 4918, write to [email protected] or write to La Presse’s mailing address.