By Shiri Pasternak
“The inability to implement reform is rooted in key features of RCMP organizational culture and structure.”
Report into Workplace Harassment in the RCMP, 2017
The RCMP motto is “maintiens le droit” or “maintain the right” / “defend the law.” But how can the force uphold people’s rights and defend the law when it is rife with an internal culture of systemic racism, gender-based violence, and corruption?
The Lawsuits
RCMP harassment, bullying, and serious sexual misconduct are part of a long historical pattern in the force. In 2007, Janet Merlo brought these issues to light with a complaint filed against the RCMP alleging harassment and misconduct. She testified that over a decade of abuse during her time in service had led to post-traumatic stress disorder and depression. In 2012, Merlo filed a class action lawsuit, joined by Linda Davidson, a former Ontario officer, who had filed a similar suit. When the lawsuit was certified as a class-action, hundreds of others joined.
Five class action lawsuits have been launched against the RCMP by former officers, showing the scale and scope of the harassment, and the deeply embedded misogyny of the force. In 2011, Cpl Katherin Galliford launched a successful, four-year legal battle against the RCMP for two decades of harassment that left her with a severe post traumatic stress disorder. In 2017, the Merlo/Davidson settlement was finalized, providing compensation to 2300 women for workplace misconduct and paying out $125 million. In total, more than 3000 women came forward with claims. In 2019, the Tiller agreement recognized the harassment, abuse, and assault of women who experienced gender or sexual orientation-based harassment or discrimination while working or volunteering with the RCMP. Two other class action lawsuits against bullying, intimidation and harassment – Greenwood and Gray and AMPMQ – are also moving through the courts.
All of these lawsuits have shown widespread abuses of power when members tried to come forward and hold perpetrators accountable, creating a toxic culture that “tolerates misogynistic and homophobic attitudes amongst its leaders and members,” as Broken Dreams, Broken Lives, the Final Report on the Implementation of the Merlo / Davidson Settlement Agreement points out.
The report concludes that widespread, systemic change must take place and “that change cannot come from within the RCMP but must be initiated from external sources.”
Failures of Governance Reform
Meanwhile, in 2013, a Public Interest Investigation Report into RCMP Workplace Harassment was released by the Ministry of Public Safety. That year, RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson also released an action plan called Gender and Respect that included 37 recommendations for the force to take to respond to relentless and growing sexual harassment complaints. At a news conference, Paulson made a public apology:
“To all the women, I stand humbly before you today and solemnly offer our sincere apology. You came to the RCMP wanting to personally contribute to your community and we failed you. We hurt you.”
Despite their weaknesses, the 2013 report and plan instigated promises from the force that more would be done to address this issue. Yet no changes seemed to take place. In 2016, in response to a CBC investigation into rampant sexual harassment at the Canadian police College in Ottawa, the Minister of Public Safety commissioned another review, this time evaluating the implementation of 11 recommendations made in 2013 regarding the RCMP’s policies on workplace harassment. This report asked why, despite over 15 reviews and over 200 recommendations, a culture of harassment remains entrenched in the force.
It named three major impediments to change at the RCMP:
- The unwillingness of senior RCMP leaders to implement systemic change
- The failure of RCMP leadership to institute a culture of leadership that could challenge internal abuse in the force
- An absence of any civilian oversight over the force.
It appears that the only impetus for change has come from the whistleblowers themselves, who have gone to the media to tell their stories because no action was taken in response to their treatment.
Legal action by members facing harassment and assault has also brought national attention to the issue and a channel for justice, denied within the force.
Patterns of workplace culture were also brought to light in December 2007 when the Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP (dubbed the “Brown Report” after its author) advocated for sweeping changes, including: “A new, independent complaints and oversight commission” that “should serve as the central and single collection and processing point for all complaints against the RCMP, regardless of the source.”
This proposed civilian committee would have had the power to initiate its own reviews of policing operations, issue binding decisions on grievances, and make all recommendations public upon submission to the Commissioner and the Board of Management. The Brown Report recommended this taskforce be put in place and fully operational by December 31, 2009. These recommendations were ignored.
The RCMP Interim Management Advisory Board
The RCMP Interim Management Advisory Board was established in response to two independent reviews undertaken in 2016 to investigate persistent allegations of workplace harassment and related civilian claims.
One investigation was led by the RCMP’s Civilian Review and Complaints Commission; the other by former Attorney General of Canada, Sheila Fraser, for the Minister of Public Safety. Both reports were released in 2017 and found that the RCMP continues to have systemic issues contributing to harassment and bullying in the workplace. The reports advocate for structural change and reform.
Despite all of the reports, commissions, class action lawsuits and whistleblowers, the RCMP still does not have a safe, reliable, independent form of accountability built into the institution to address workplace misconduct in the future.
However, a group of former RCMP officers calling themselves Breaking Barriers Together has formed to tackle, among other things, the need for more accountability in the complaints process within the organization. All of their members have suffered from discrimination and harassment in the force. With no recourse independent of the force, they were forced to leave.
They have called for independent oversight of the force, alongside former Supreme Court justice Michael Bastarache and the Canadian feminist alliance. Breaking Barriers Together is anticipating with caution the newly introduced Bill C-20, An Act establishing the Public Complaints and Review Commission and amending certain Acts and statutory instruments.