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Section I: Overview
Chair's Message
The public perception of institutional integrity flows from meaningful transparency and accountability. Institutional behaviours and public expectations evolve over time as a natural response to a range of advancements and challenges within society. Public perceptions on most issues are equally dynamic and what was once viewed as acceptable behaviour may no longer be considered as such.
Public institutions must be especially sensitive to changing public expectations in order to fulfill their mandates. The policing function is a public mandate that is particularly reliant upon public support. The public must have confidence that the police are their agents and will discharge their duties in both a professional and impartial manner. The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP plays an essential role on behalf of both the public and the members of the RCMP in ensuring the restoration and maintenance of the integrity of the RCMP as a respected public institution.
During the fiscal year (FY) 2007-08, the Commission made significant progress toward this goal. It has implemented rigorous service standards throughout the entire complaint and review process. Despite a significant increase in both the number of complaints received and the number of cases appealed, it met and, in many cases, exceeded such standards.
An institution like the RCMP earns the public trust by being held to a high standard of transparency and accountability. That standard can only be achieved when a number of criteria are met; the RCMP's civilian oversight agency has access to all relevant material, and publishes meaningful factual findings and recommendations that are sufficiently persuasive to either substantiate the appropriateness of a member's conduct or bring RCMP policies, procedures, training, guidelines and member conduct into line with public expectations.
While addressing cases involving the conduct of individual RCMP members, the Commission has also aggressively sought to identify systemic problems that frequently are catalysts for individual member conduct complaints. The Commission launched a historic number of chair-initiated complaints this year, creating a comprehensive factual picture of police activities and enabling the Commission to examine RCMP practices on a detachment, division and national basis. This approach allowed the Commission to better inform the RCMP Commissioner, the Minister and the Canadian public of the true nature and scope of problems that have tended to be viewed as isolated events. To foster greater public debate on these important issues, the Commission will continue to publish on its website all reports containing adverse findings and its recommendations to address those findings.
Applying yesterday's model of oversight to today's policing environment falls short of meaningful transparency and accountability. To ensure the oversight model adequately evolves to keep pace with the ever-changing police environment, the Commission launched several new initiatives this year. It facilitated access to the complaints process in the Aboriginal community by partnering with the National Association of Friendship Centres and increased the number of languages in which the public may communicate with the Commission from two to more than fourteen.
In recognition of public concerns about the impartiality of police investigations of shootings involving RCMP members, the Commission, in partnership with the RCMP in British Columbia, launched the Independent Observer Pilot Project in March 2007 to provide third-party assessments of the impartiality of police investigative teams charged with investigating such shootings. Broad operational policy reviews of numerous issues were also conducted this year. Among them, the Commission examined the propriety of the police investigating the police, police conduct relating to individuals suffering mental health crises, and the appropriate use of conducted energy weapons1 to elicit compliance.
Since the RCMP is also a key partner in the current model of civilian oversight of RCMP conduct, it too has responsibilities to the Canadian public. Those responsibilities include providing an impartial investigation and response to citizen complaints against RCMP members. As a steward of the complaints process, the Commission undertook an extensive review of all RCMP complaint dispositions in 2007 to assure itself that the RCMP was successfully fulfilling its oversight responsibilities.
On November 20, 2007, the Minister of Public Safety asked the Commission to review the RCMP's protocols on the use of conducted energy weapons and their implementation, including compliance with such protocols. This Ministerial request, the first of its kind in the history of the Commission, is a further reflection of the need to respond to the increased public demands for greater transparency and accountability. An important part of meeting these ongoing demands includes the enhancements I originally proposed in my 2006 draft legislation.
A chorus of voices, as reflected in the recommendations of the Arar Inquiry, the Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP and the Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts, continues to call for more meaningful police accountability. My colleagues and I at the Commission will continue to work constructively with the public, the government and the RCMP to create more meaningful accountability of policing in Canada.
Paul E. Kennedy
Management Representation Statement
I submit for tabling in Parliament, the 2007–08 Departmental Performance Report for the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP. This document has been prepared based on the reporting principles contained in the Guide for 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 Commission's approved 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.
Paul E. Kennedy
Chair
Summary Information
Raison d'être: Vision, Mission and Mandate
The Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC) is an independent agency and is not part of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP). The Commission's fundamental role is to provide civilian review of the conduct of the RCMP members in carrying out their policing duties, thereby holding the RCMP accountable to the public. This public accountability is not only an essential part in helping ensure that police officers exercise their considerable authority legally and appropriately but also a key element in the checks and balances required to tackle crime in Canada.
The CPC has the authority to make findings and recommendations, but cannot impose discipline or make monetary awards to complainants.
The CPC's Vision and Mission Statements set out why it exists, what it does to support the Government of Canada outcome of safe and secure communities and how it achieves its objectives.
Vision
Excellence in policing through accountability.
Mission
To provide civilian review of RCMP members' conduct in performing their policing duties so as to hold the RCMP accountable to the public.
Mandate
The mandate of the CPC is set out in Part VII of the RCMP Act and can be summarized as follows:
- to receive complaints from the public about the conduct of RCMP members;2
- to initiate complaints to delve into RCMP conduct when it is in the public interest to do so;
- to conduct reviews when complainants are not satisfied with the RCMP's handling of their complaints;
- to hold hearings and conduct investigations; and
- to report findings and make recommendations.
|
Planned Spending |
2007-08 |
Actual |
|---|---|---|
|
Total Authorities |
||
|
5,622 |
7,507 |
6,801 |
|
Planned |
2007-08 |
Difference |
|---|---|---|
|
Actual |
||
|
44 |
48* |
4 |
* Note the Commission received program integrity funding covering the last 4 months of this report. The Commission received authority for an additional 16 staff positions for the last quarter which translates into 4 Full-Time Equivalents
Context and Operating Environment
The Government of Canada is committed to fostering safe and secure communities that reflect the values that are important to Canadians. These values include a diverse society that promotes linguistic duality and social inclusion. CPC's priorities are at the very core of these commitments. By striving towards its own strategic outcome of "Upholding safe communities through the promotion of Canadian values of respect for human and civil rights, multiculturalism and diversity, equality and fairness and respect for the rule of law" and pursuing its vision of "Excellence in policing through accountability" the CPC can enhance the trust between law enforcement and citizens and create an awareness amongst all citizens that they have a right to complain and that a complaint will be heard and evaluated impartially and fairly for all parties affected.
The CPC's main stakeholder is the Canadian public. It receives complaints from the public and refers them to the RCMP for investigation as required by the RCMP Act. It can also review the RCMP's disposition of these complaints if the complainant is not satisfied. The CPC may initiate complaints, conduct investigations, hold public hearings and make findings and recommendations to the Commissioner of the RCMP.
The environment in which police discharge their responsibilities has undergone significant change over the past 20 years. The current government in 2006 made "Accountability" one of its first five priorities. The recently enacted Federal Accountability Act provides new oversight mechanisms and strengthened whistle blower protection.
It has been said that the "only constant is change" and one area that has experienced unprecedented change over the last 20 years is public safety. Globalization, mass migration, technological advancements and the existence of failed or failing states have all contributed to a witch's brew of sophisticated crime in the form of transnational organized crime, global terrorism, and the ever-ubiquitous Internet with its hackers, fraud artists and hate distributors.
Governments have responded to these challenges by increasing police budgets and enacting new legislation. Police services have altered their investigative practices and since the year 2000 we have witnessed the growth of ad hoc and permanent integrated enforcement teams both domestically and internationally.
The RCMP within Canada plays a key role in this new mode of policing. The RCMP is unique in that it is one of the very few police services in the world that is present at all three levels of government. As the national police force, it is present in all 10 provinces and 3 territories, it is the provincial police force in 8 provinces and is the municipal police force in over 200 municipalities, some of which have a population base in excess of 400,000 persons.
It is inevitable that such a police service will be the subject of public complaints as to how it discharges its duties. Since 1988 there has been on average 2,000 annual complaints. They range in nature from complaints of rudeness, to police shootings that result in serious injury or death, to appropriate response to large public protests such as those that took place at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) Summit in Vancouver and the Summit of the Americas in Quebec City. The vast majority of these complaints can be adequately addressed under the current legislation. However, it is clear that individual cases can highlight glaring defects in the review mechanism which undermine its credibility, foster tension between the RCMP and the Commission, and have helped spawn a growth in the ‘Public Inquiry' business.
Police review bodies such as our Commission are creatures of statute. We are only as strong as Parliament makes us. We cannot pretend to have powers or the ability to impose obligations that have no basis in legislation. Justice O'Connor in his report of December 11, 2006 provided detailed policy recommendations that would address the weaknesses of the existing review mechanism. Those policy recommendations largely mirror model draft legislation developed by the Commission and posted on its Web site on August 17, 2006.
Lack of a modern review mechanism, can lead the government of the day to turn to inquiries such as those recently conducted by Mr. Rae, Justice O'Connor, Justice Major, Justice Iacobucci, Mr. Brown, as well as to the examination of issues by Parliamentary committees.
These kinds of challenges to accountability of police are not unique to the federal government. Provincial governments have faced them as well. Quebec passed new legislation in 2002 to improve its police accountability regime. Alberta recently amended its Police Act to create a Special Investigative Unit model similar to Ontario's to investigate incidents or complaints involving serious injury or death, and matters of a serious or sensitive nature that have resulted from the actions of a police officer. Saskatchewan, in 2006, updated its legislation. British Columbia has recently completed a review by Mr. Justice Woods wherein he has recommended significant changes to its legislation. Ontario has passed Bill 103 to expand its complaints review model. Many of the provincial regimes were of more recent vintage than the federal model; nevertheless, they found it necessary to refresh those models to better address today's public expectations of transparency and accountability.
What is required is a modernized legislative mandate for civilian review of policing activities – one which better reflects current public expectations of accountability and transparency. An enhanced legislative mandate would assist the Commission to better address the increasing public demands for greater transparency and accountability of policing in Canada.
Performance Overview
Priority No. 1 – Improving the Complaints and Review Processes
The Commission launched a unique project in FY 2007-08 to examine all RCMP complaint dispositions – not merely those where a complainant has requested a CPC review. Historically, the Commission has examined only about 10 per cent of complaints lodged against the RCMP. Called the Review of the Record, this initiative examines every RCMP complaint disposition in the calendar year, beginning with 2007. It studies the types of allegations made by the public and how the RCMP disposes of these complaints, including whether dispositions conform to RCMP policy.
The Review of the Record project has already achieved exceptional results. It has increased cooperation between the CPC and the RCMP; it has assisted in reducing the large number of outstanding complaint dispositions; and, through quantitative and qualitative analysis, it has uncovered trends that if addressed have the potential to improve the quality of the public complaints system and enhance service to the public.
The CPC national intake office in Surrey, British Columbia, processed a total of 3,228 general enquiries, informal resolutions and formal complaints against the RCMP this year. This number represents a 37 per cent increase from last year.
The Commission has taken steps to improve the quality of its management decision-making information by enhancing the quality and integrity of data in the Case Tracking System (CTS), implementing a milestone tracking system to enable the active management of review files within the 120-day performance standard and establishing a correspondence tracking capability.
In FY 2007-08 the Commission initiated an innovative pilot project that assigned Commission staff to observe and assess the impartiality of RCMP investigations involving high-profile and serious incidents such as in-custody deaths. Launched in March 2007 in conjunction with the RCMP's Office of Investigative Standards and Practices in British Columbia, the Independent Observer Pilot Project seeks to address the public's concerns about the impartiality of RCMP investigations into incidents where the actions of RCMP members had resulted in serious injury or death and for other investigations that are high profile and sensitive in nature.
By March 31, 2008, the CPC Observer had responded to six RCMP-involved incidents, three of which, due to their significant public interest, later gave rise to chair-initiated complaints. The program continues to operate in British Columbia and will be evaluated in 2008-2009 with an eye to nationwide expansion. More information about the CPC Independent Observer Pilot is available on the CPC website.
Priority No. 2 – Enhancing Collaboration with Provinces and Client Communities
In addition to its federal responsibilities, the RCMP also provides community policing services under contract in all provinces and territories except Ontario and Quebec. Senior representatives of the provinces and three territories meet regularly with officials from the Department of Public Safety and the RCMP to address service delivery related issues. As the conduct of all RCMP members performing such policing services remains subject to the CPC's complaints and review process, the Commission attended a session and updated officials on various initiatives that it had undertaken throughout the year. The CPC will continue to broaden and deepen its relationships with these provincial officials.
In recognition of the need to provide a uniform quality of civilian oversight of police in the contracting provinces, the CPC in March 2008 hosted a meeting of civilian police oversight bodies to discuss a broad range of operational and strategic matters. Future meetings will be held with a view to identifying opportunities for enhanced collaboration between the CPC and its provincial counterparts.
To make its services more accessible to the public at large, the Commission has made its brochures and complaint form available on its website in several languages and dialects besides French and English. These include Arabic, Chinese, Filipino, Hindi, Inuktitut, Japanese, Korean, Labrador Inuktitut, Persian, Punjabi, Spanish and Vietnamese. In addition to services for the hearing-impaired, the CPC also provides simultaneous interpretation services in a practically endless list of foreign languages via three-way phone transmission should a citizen require this assistance. Translation Bureau assistance is also available to the CPC in 30 Aboriginal languages and dialects.
Finally, the Commission has started the process of simplifying its website to make it more user-friendly and to meet the Treasury Board Secretariat's Common Look and Feel Standards for the Internet (CLF 2.0).
Priority No. 3 – Improving Human Resources Management
The Commission is very cognisant of the fact that as a small organization with a vital mandate it relies heavily on its talented and dedicated staff, therefore it takes its human resource requirements very seriously. The Commission has implemented, as one of its activities related to the full implementation of the Public Service Modernization Act, an integrated business and human resources planning process. This initiative was undertaken in order to set the foundation for assessing and understanding our current and future needs. It is also intended to identify optimal strategies and activities for the human resource management components of recruitment, retention, learning, development, employee engagement, promotion, succession, employment equity and official languages.
In addition, the Commission developed and implemented a Staffing Management Accountability Framework which is an integral part of the human resources accountability framework ensuring CPC's compliance with the new public service legislation, Public Service Commission policy, delegation requirements and staffing values.
In its continuing quest for workplace excellence, the Commission developed and implemented an Employee Pride and Recognition program. It also launched a process this year to establish a Commission-wide code of conduct suitable for a quasi-judicial body. The new code will dovetail with ongoing Government of Canada efforts to develop a model code of conduct for all departments.
Priority No. 4 – Improving Corporate Management
A performance management regime has been established that enables the Commission to ensure that the initiatives being undertaken in its Business Plan are achieving the desired outcomes at all levels and that the assigned resources are being used as effectively as possible.
Through communication planning activities the complexity and importance of the Commission's communication activities became clear. Accountability to the public demands a high standard of transparency. To meet its mandate to be accessible to the public demands that the Commission be very cognisant of its varied audiences. The past year has been a demanding one for communications, one which was met with a response that took into consideration the goals and mandate of the Commission.
In accordance with the TB Policy on Internal Audit, the Commission, as an SDA (Small Departments and Agencies), is not required to establish an internal audit function. As well, the policy stipulates that the Comptroller General will conduct horizontal and other audits on SDAs each year. Having reviewed the Commission's risk environment, risk profile and control environment, no additional internal audits are considered to be required.
Priority No. 5 – Building for the Future
In the fall of 2007, the Commission received 16 months of additional government funding to enable it to better fulfill its existing mandate. The new funding will continue to the end of March 2009, and will be used for outreach, policy-related research and other research activities. Specifically, the Commission hopes to refine existing processes for complaints and reviews, raise public awareness about the Commission and its work, improve access to the public complaints machinery and build on the effectiveness of the CPC as a policing review agency. Although one of the expected results of this priority included an expanded CPC mandate, Public Safety Canada is the lead for any change to the Commission's mandate; CPC remains committed to working with Public Safety to this end.
The Commission reorganized in FY 2007-08, eliminating three executive positions and creating a Senior Director, Operations, responsible for managing all phases of the complaint and review process at the Commission, including intake, analysis, review and investigations, as well as some outreach activities. The reorganization is expected to facilitate the management of complaints. The CPC also created in November 2007, a Director position to oversee the new Strategic Policy and Research Division charged with exploring systemic issues underlying complaints and providing innovative information products for both the public and CPC staff. The work of this Division will also contribute positively to the important debates that occur when considering public policy in relation to policing issues.
On November 20, 2007, the Minister of Public Safety, the Honourable Stockwell Day, asked the Commission "to review the RCMP's protocols on the use of conducted energy weapons (CEDs) and their implementation, including compliance with such protocols" and to provide an interim report by December 12, 2007. On December 11, 2007, the Commission submitted a comprehensive interim report containing 10 recommendations for immediate implementation. Had the Strategic Policy and Research Division not already been in place at that point, the Commission would have been unable to respond to the urgent request from the Minister of Public Safety for a report on the RCMP's use of the conducted energy weapon. A capacity to undertake such research is necessary to respond to current public expectations of police accountability.