ARCHIVED - RCMP External Review Committee

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Section I:  Overview

Chair's Message

The Departmental Performance Report of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police External Review Committee for 2007-2008 provides an overview of its work during this fiscal year. It also discusses the extent to which the Committee has met its objectives, as set out in its 2007-2008 Report on Plans and Priorities.

The Committee is a very small independent agency of the government, made up of the Chair, who is also the Chief Executive Officer, the Executive Director/Senior Counsel, and four permanent staff members.  The Committee currently has an additional 4 temporary positions.  It has a very distinct mandate. Its role is to conduct impartial and independent reviews of RCMP labour relations cases. In doing so, and with the help of a strong outreach program, it aims to positively influence the manner in which labour relations issues are addressed within the RCMP.

The Committee had an extremely busy year.  It participated in government reviews of the RCMP governance structure by making presentations to both the Brown Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP and the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts.  It provided the government with its response to the Task Force recommendations related to matters within the Committee's mandate, and also prepared vision documents and draft legislation that can be found on the Committee's website.

In addition to these special initiatives, the Committee met all of its corporate and reporting responsibilities.  It also dealt with an increased amount of work in the areas of staffing, budget management, management accountability and human resources planning.

In spite of the time and resources required for these important strategic and corporate tasks, the Committee also managed to output a strong number of findings and recommendations, and also engaged in significant outreach and information dissemination to ensure that its work is known and understood by RCMP members.

Because of resource pressures that were not foreseen at the time of the planning for the year under review, the Committee did not fully meet all of the targets that it set for itself.  This report will outline in more detail the areas of challenge and the lessons learned for future years.  The Committee is committed to improving the timeliness of its findings and recommendations, and believes that this will be achieved through a combination of a long term funding increase and improvements in our processes.

My vision for the Committee continues to be that it have the ability, through longer term funding, to fully and effectively meet its strategic outcome, through the provision of high quality, independent and timely case review and outreach, while at the same time meeting corporate demands.

The original version was signed by
Catherine Ebbs, Chair

Catherine Ebbs
Chair

Management Representation Statement

I submit for tabling in Parliament, the 2007-08 Departmental Performance Report for the RCMP External Review Committee.

This document has been prepared based on the reporting principles contained in the Guide to the Preparation of Part III of the 2007-08 Estimates: Reports on Plans and Priorities and Departmental Performance Reports:

• It adheres to the specific reporting requirements outlined in the Treasury Board Secretariat guidance;
• It is based on the department's Strategic Outcome and Program Activity Architecture that were approved by the Treasury Board;
• It presents consistent, comprehensive, balanced and reliable information;
• It provides a basis of accountability for the results achieved with the resources and authorities entrusted to it; and
• It reports finances based on approved numbers from the Estimates and the Public Accounts of Canada.

The original version was signed by
Catherine Ebbs, Chair

Catherine Ebbs
Chair

Treasury Board Approved Strategic Outcome and
Program Activity Architecture for 2007-2008

Summary Information

Committee's Reasons for Existence

The RCMP External Review Committee ("Committee") is an independent and impartial agency that aims to promote fair and equitable labour relations within the RCMP, in accordance with applicable principles of law. To this end the Committee conducts an independent review of appeals in disciplinary and discharge and demotion matters, as well as certain categories of grievances that can be referred to it pursuant to s.33 of the RCMP Act ("Act") and s. 36 of the RCMP Regulations ("Regulations").

The Committee benefits Canadians through its contribution to fair, transparent and accountable labour relations processes within the RCMP, and by extension, through its contribution to the efficiency and fairness of the RCMP.

* Until September 2007, our initial FTE planned was 9. Funding was received for 1 additional corporate resource for a one year term.  This position could not be filled in this fiscal year.   Another FTE position was vacant for 6 months of the year.

* This breakdown of resources had not been adjusted to reflect the Committee's 80% (program activity 1) and 20% (program activity 2) division for each program activity.

Summary of Departmental Performance

A. Day-to-Day Conditions of the Work of the Committee Pertaining to Performance

1) Case Review

Members of the RCMP are subject to distinct systems of grievance, discipline and discharge and demotion adjudication, as outlined in Parts III, IV and V of the Act. The internal RCMP labour relations system makes the initial decision in labour relations matters affecting members.  Where the initial decision is appealed, the Act provides for referral to the Committee. The mandate of the Committee is to undertake an external review and issue findings and recommendations to the parties and the Commissioner of the RCMP. The Commissioner of the RCMP makes the final decision and should he or she not follow the Committee's recommendation, the law requires that he or she give reasons for not doing so.

Grievances constitute the largest component of the Committee's work. The Act and Regulations provide that five categories of grievances must be referred to it for review:

1. interpretation and application of government-wide policies that apply to members of the RCMP;
2. stoppage of pay and allowances during suspension of a member;
3. interpretation and application of the Isolated Posts Directive;
4. interpretation and application of the Relocation Directive;
5. administrative discharge on grounds of physical or mental disability, abandonment of post, or irregular appointment.

With discharge and demotion matters, there is no restriction on what types of appeals will be referred. In the area of discipline, only appeals where formal disciplinary proceedings have been taken are referred to the Committee. The Committee does not have a role in the review of disciplinary measures arising from an informal disciplinary process, as described by the Act.

2) Outreach and Communication Activities

The Committee provides case review which is both impartial and arms length to the RCMP. In doing so, it aims to positively influence the RCMP labour relations environment. Likewise, information exchange and outreach with stakeholders is integral to this objective. The Committee utilizes a number of tools for outreach, including its Web site (www.erc-cee.gc.ca), its quarterly publication (Communiqué), requests for information, and ongoing training, meetings, and capacity building.

B. Internal and External Factors Affecting the Performance of the Committee

The Committee continued to devote its resources towards its strategic aim of positively influencing the manner in which labour relations issues are addressed within the RCMP.  As part of its key Program Activity pertaining to the independent and impartial review of cases, the Committee completed a total of 31 cases during the 2007-2008 fiscal year, thereby providing parties and the RCMP Commissioner with an independent review of the dispute to facilitate transparent and accountable labour relations.

The body of findings and recommendations issued by the Committee contributed to assisting stakeholders in the RCMP labour relations area in interpreting relevant legislation, regulations and policy.  The Committee dealt with a large number of matters in its review of cases, and also identified, as it has in the past, areas for policy change/clarification. 

The issuance of these findings and recommendations by the Committee allowed it to successfully meet its priority of focussing on the quality of case review.  However, as will be discussed below, various factors impacted on the Committee's ability to produce more cases than it did, and therefore reduce its backlog. As a result, this priority was only partly met.

As part of its priority of solidifying outreach and raising awareness of the Committee's work, the Committee also devoted resources to its second Program Activity, outreach and information dissemination.  Through various means, the Committee informed the public on labour relations issues within the RCMP, and also increased awareness of labour relations issues within the RCMP. 

The Committee continued to evaluate its operations on an ongoing basis.  One of its priorities, case review status, remained a standing item in regular staff meetings, and the Committee addressed issues which had been raised in its Management Accountability Framework (MAF) assessment.  Further, as part of a recognition of its upcoming twentieth anniversary, the Committee prepared an Annual Report which takes stock of, and highlights, the accomplishments of, the Committee over the last 20 years. 

Although the Committee had identified as a priority for the fiscal year reduction of backlog, there were challenges with making gains in this area.   The number of findings and recommendations issued by the Committee was lower than the previous fiscal year, owing to a number of factors.  The Committee had some unusually difficult cases before it in 2007-08 that required more time than usual to review.  Further, staffing issues, as well as strategic and corporate demands, all linked to the Committee's small size and its delicate funding situation, impacted on the Committee's ability to dedicate resources to case review.

Staffing Issues

The Committee was able to classify and staff three additional positions resulting from temporary funding.  Two years' funding was approved in September 2006 for one legal counsel, and five years' funding was approved for a junior legal counsel and an administrative support position. The purpose of this temporary funding was to facilitate case review and reduce the Committee's volume of outstanding cases.  Given classification and staffing delays, the positions were only filled in June of 2007.  As well, two of the three employees filling these positions left early into their secondments.  These circumstances surrounding staffing presented challenges which had an impact on the Committee's ability to devote resources to its caseload. Firstly, having positions vacant for periods of time meant that case review work could not be done.  Secondly, every new selection process required the attention of senior personnel.

Despite these challenges, there is no doubt that the additional positions, since they have been staffed, have assisted with the development of a more robust operational infrastructure for the Committee, and have also supported the Committee's  priority of maintaining an optimum environment for Committee employees.  However, it appears that the staffing challenges will persist until more permanent funding solutions are identified.

Strategic Demands

The RCMP was under government and public scrutiny in the past year, and this required strategic attention and outreach by the Committee. 

In particular, the Committee contributed to the Brown Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP ("Brown Task Force"), via written submissions and two meetings with the Task Force.  The Committee also devoted significant resources to its response to the Task Force report and various interactions with stakeholders on labour relations reform within the RCMP.

As well, the Chair appeared before the House of Commons Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the Committee devoted resources to the study and evaluation of the Standing Committee's report and recommendations.

In a small agency such as the Committee, these strategic responsibilities, while very important, had an direct impact on the ability to devote attention to case review.

Corporate Demands

Regardless of its size, the Committee must meet all government-wide corporate requirements.  Deputy Head accountability in corporate areas such as human resources, finance, and information management required a level of attention that reduced the time available for the Chair to  undertake case review. 

Although the analytical work of the Committee is developed by the public service staff of the Committee, the actual recommendations are produced by one person, the Chair of the Committee, who is also the Committee's Chief Executive Officer pursuant to the RCMP Act. The Chair's involvement in corporate issues, and that of Committee staff, affected the Committee's ability to maximize its output of cases.  Nevertheless, the Committee places great importance on these requirements, and the development of a more robust infrastructure to address corporate requirements and integrate these in its operational framework was one of the Committee's priorities in 2007-2008.

The Committee received approval in the Fall 2007 for corporate infrastructure support, and it has been able to dedicate some of those funds toward changes to partly address its priority of developing a more robust infrastructure for corporate requirements and integrating these in its operational framework.  However, the short term nature of the funding (2 years) presents obstacles to fully developing a corporate infrastructure.  Permanent funding to support the Committee's corporate support requirements would allow it to fully meet its priority in this area.

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