http://blogs.canoe.ca/lilleyspad/general/column-gunter-rcmp-image-taking-a-hit/
Widening trust gap
by Lorne Gunter
Canadians have mixed views of our national police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. We seem to admire the RCMP as an institution but are increasingly suspicious of the actions of individual Mounties and of the force’s brass – its senior officers and policymakers.
Our attitudes are further complicated by the fact that we seem to see the officers in our local detachments as good guys – they play on our men’s league hockey teams, help out with community charities, take their kids to school like the rest of us – yet we are beginning to see more bad apples elsewhere.
According to an Abacus Data poll of 1,000 Canadians conducted in late June, the Mounties remain one of our most trusted national institutions. A symbol of the country, the RCMP ranks right up there (69%) with the maple leaf (83%) and universal health care (78%).
Yet a majority of Canadians believe officers have used excess force (51%) and that sexism is rampant (54%) within the RCMP. Significant pluralities are also convinced problems within the force are “widespread” (43%) and are not being exaggerated (42%).
Interestingly, former Mounties are the most critical of the current state of the force. Fully half claim problems of bias, political correctness and loss of focus are endemic.
But change won’t come easy. On Saturday, in the third part of the examination of our national police force, a host of academics, former officers and politicians struggle to identify just what has gone wrong and how to fix it.
The problem seems to be in the culture of the force. After the Mounties lost their operational independence in the 1980s, they began to think and act more like bureaucrats.
Then there is the damage done by the Liberals’ gun law (C-68) of 1995. It set firearms owners against police – especially the Mounties – as never before. As the federal gun cops, the RCMP have been in charge of enforcing the detested provisions for mandatory licensing of owners and registration of all rifles and shotguns. And since the Western provinces have among the highest rates of gun ownership in the country, this schism over the right to own firearms was felt there particularly strongly.
To be sure, there have been lots of other factors behind the tension between the public and the Mounties, starting with revelations in the 1970s that our national police illegally spied on Canadians and used fire-bombings against Quebec nationalists.
The Mounties also sullied their reputation by using excess force (including pepper spray and arrests) against lawful demonstrators at the APEC summit in Vancouver in 1997.
They were responsible for the Tasering of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International airport in 2007, in which he died, and the subsequent attempt to cover up their actions.
The force’s role in the deportation of dual Syrian-Canadian citizen Maher Arar to Syria, where he was allegedly tortured, led to the resignation of Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli and the payment of $10 million in compensation to Arar.
There has been mismanagement of pension funds by senior Mounties and reprimands from official inquiries over mishandling of the Air India terror bombing investigation.
But I would guess, the biggest strains on the Mounties’ credibility, particularly in rural Canada and the West, have been over guns. And the warrantless seizure of hundreds of firearms from the homes of evacuees following the flooding in High River, two weeks ago – in which Mounties broke open doors and removed private property arbitrarily – will only widen the existing trust gap.
Saturday in this series, possible reforms to the RCMP will be discussed with an eye to restoring the force’s Dudley Do-Right lustre.
Widening trust gap
by Lorne Gunter
Canadians have mixed views of our national police force, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police. We seem to admire the RCMP as an institution but are increasingly suspicious of the actions of individual Mounties and of the force’s brass – its senior officers and policymakers.
Our attitudes are further complicated by the fact that we seem to see the officers in our local detachments as good guys – they play on our men’s league hockey teams, help out with community charities, take their kids to school like the rest of us – yet we are beginning to see more bad apples elsewhere.
According to an Abacus Data poll of 1,000 Canadians conducted in late June, the Mounties remain one of our most trusted national institutions. A symbol of the country, the RCMP ranks right up there (69%) with the maple leaf (83%) and universal health care (78%).
Yet a majority of Canadians believe officers have used excess force (51%) and that sexism is rampant (54%) within the RCMP. Significant pluralities are also convinced problems within the force are “widespread” (43%) and are not being exaggerated (42%).
Interestingly, former Mounties are the most critical of the current state of the force. Fully half claim problems of bias, political correctness and loss of focus are endemic.
But change won’t come easy. On Saturday, in the third part of the examination of our national police force, a host of academics, former officers and politicians struggle to identify just what has gone wrong and how to fix it.
The problem seems to be in the culture of the force. After the Mounties lost their operational independence in the 1980s, they began to think and act more like bureaucrats.
Then there is the damage done by the Liberals’ gun law (C-68) of 1995. It set firearms owners against police – especially the Mounties – as never before. As the federal gun cops, the RCMP have been in charge of enforcing the detested provisions for mandatory licensing of owners and registration of all rifles and shotguns. And since the Western provinces have among the highest rates of gun ownership in the country, this schism over the right to own firearms was felt there particularly strongly.
To be sure, there have been lots of other factors behind the tension between the public and the Mounties, starting with revelations in the 1970s that our national police illegally spied on Canadians and used fire-bombings against Quebec nationalists.
The Mounties also sullied their reputation by using excess force (including pepper spray and arrests) against lawful demonstrators at the APEC summit in Vancouver in 1997.
They were responsible for the Tasering of Polish immigrant Robert Dziekanski at Vancouver International airport in 2007, in which he died, and the subsequent attempt to cover up their actions.
The force’s role in the deportation of dual Syrian-Canadian citizen Maher Arar to Syria, where he was allegedly tortured, led to the resignation of Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli and the payment of $10 million in compensation to Arar.
There has been mismanagement of pension funds by senior Mounties and reprimands from official inquiries over mishandling of the Air India terror bombing investigation.
But I would guess, the biggest strains on the Mounties’ credibility, particularly in rural Canada and the West, have been over guns. And the warrantless seizure of hundreds of firearms from the homes of evacuees following the flooding in High River, two weeks ago – in which Mounties broke open doors and removed private property arbitrarily – will only widen the existing trust gap.
Saturday in this series, possible reforms to the RCMP will be discussed with an eye to restoring the force’s Dudley Do-Right lustre.
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