RCMP union pushes for change to help force attract talent from U.S., other countries

The National Police Federation says the RCMP should follow the lead of the Canadian Armed Forces, which in 2022 opened applications to permanent residents without any requirement on time spent in Canada.

Federation president Brian Sauvé said he’s “pretty sure we can attract some good talent” through a similar move by the RCMP.

Sauvé compares the idea to federal immigration programs that seek to entice skilled workers to come to Canada.

“If this government has identified public safety, border security and all that stuff as an imperative, we can do the same thing, right?” Sauvé said in a recent interview.

“We have equivalency training. You can come from Manchester, you can come from New South Wales, you can come from, I don’t know, the FBI. And we’ll train you to be equivalent, to give you a job and put you in a role.”

The proposal is one of several ideas the police federation presented in a June report aimed at improving the RCMP’s recruitment practices, funding model, training programs and procurement.

The federation says independent reports over the past two decades have offered the federal government clear guidance on how to improve RCMP operations in these areas.

“Yet time and again, these recommendations have been met with inaction or insufficient follow-through,” the June report says. “As a result, long-standing issues persisted and were allowed to worsen.”

Public Safety Canada spokesperson Max Watson said the department is committed to working with the RCMP and others to ensure the force “is equipped to meet evolving public safety needs.” 

The federation is calling for a streamlined and modernized RCMP application processing system, more training capacity and an increase in the cadet training allowance to about $1,200 a week from the current $525.

The federation says it wants more flexibility for some new recruits, such as people from other law enforcement agencies, to make it easier for them to fit into the RCMP.

For instance, the federation notes only serving or recently inactive police officers can apply through the RCMP’s three-week experienced police officer program, provided they meet strict criteria.

That excludes a large pool of well-trained public safety personnel, including members of the Canada Border Services Agency, provincial sheriffs, conservation officers and other law enforcement agents who may not meet the threshold, the report says.

Forcing these candidates to repeat a full 26-week training program at the RCMP training depot “creates a barrier to recruitment and results in missed opportunities to bring skilled, experienced candidates into the RCMP,” the report adds.

It also says the federal procurement process is too slow and unresponsive to the urgent needs of modern policing, and drains valuable government resources.

“Delays in rolling out life-saving equipment, including service pistols, body armour and body-worn cameras, threaten both officer safety and public trust,” the report says.

During the spring election campaign, the Liberals promised to recruit 1,000 more RCMP personnel to tackle drug and human trafficking, foreign interference, cybercrime and car thefts by organized crime.

The Liberals also pledged to create a new RCMP academy in Regina and increase pay for cadet recruits.

Watson acknowledged the promise to hire more Mounties and said Public Safety recognizes the importance of cadet pay in broader efforts to support recruitment and retention.

The RCMP did not respond to a request for comment in time for publication.

The police force has been told to trim two per cent of its budget as part of a governmentwide cost-cutting exercise.

Sauvé said he is “cautiously optimistic” the Liberal government will follow through on its commitment to strengthen law enforcement, set out in a May mandate letter.

The RCMP provides policing services through contracts with all provinces and territories, except Ontario and Quebec. RCMP policing agreements cover much of rural Canada, all of the North and many towns and municipalities in contract provinces.

The police federation acknowledges that some continue to ask whether the RCMP should shed its contract policing role across Canada and become more like the FBI by focusing on federal criminal matters.

In March, before Mark Carney became prime minister, the Liberals published a paper outlining a new vision for the RCMP. It suggested the force concentrate on federal policing, reflecting its “essential mandate and where it is best placed to lead investigations.”

The federation flatly rejects the idea.

“The RCMP’s integrated pan-Canadian policing model remains one of its greatest strengths, due to its ability to leverage co-ordination, consistency and efficiency across all jurisdictions,” the June report says.

It argues that moving away from the current model “would create deep service gaps, duplication and costly public safety and economic inefficiencies with no evidence of better results.”

The federation calls for dedicated funding for federal policing, saying RCMP officers carrying out those duties must no longer be used to backstop vacancies in contract jurisdictions.

“Federal assets should be used solely for federal mandates,” the report says. “If federal members are redeployed for non-federal purposes, those services must be cost-recovered from contract partners.”