ARCHIVED - RCMP External Review Committee - Report

This page has been archived.

2009-10
Departmental Performance Report

RCMP External Review Committee

The original version was signed by
The Honourable Vic Toews, P.C., Q.C., M.P.
Minister of Public Safety

Table of Contents

CHAIR'S MESSAGE

SECTION I:  DEPARTMENTAL OVERVIEW

Raison d'être
Responsibilities
Strategic Outcome and Program Activity Architecture
Summary of Performance
Contribution of Priorities to Strategic Outcome
Risk Analysis
Expenditure Profile
Voted and Statutory Items

SECTION II:  ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES BY STRATEGIC OUTCOME

Strategic Outcome
Program Activity by Strategic Outcome

Program Activity #1:  Independent and impartial case review
Program Activity #2: Outreach and information dissemination

SECTION III:  SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Financial Highlights
Financial Highlights Chart
Financial Statements
Other Items of Interest
Resource Person

CHAIR'S MESSAGE

As Chair of the RCMP External Review Committee (ERC), it is my pleasure to deliver this report of the progress it has made toward its expected results.  The information contained in this year's report demonstrates that the ERC has embraced the concept of continual improvement and the public service's modern mechanisms for measuring and reporting on it. 

The ERC's role is to conduct impartial and independent reviews of RCMP labour relations cases.  Its aim is to positively influence the manner in which labour relations issues are addressed within the RCMP.  This contributes to the confidence and trust that Canadians put in the administration of the Force, knowing that principles of fairness and statutory compliance are upheld in a transparent and credible manner.

It must be stated that the ERC is a uniquely small organization relative to most organizations with similar functions and to the greater federal public service in general.  In addition to myself, the ERC is staffed by five public servants indeterminately.  Three additional staff have been appointed temporarily for as long as resources are available to retain them.  I am appointed by Cabinet.  I am the sole member of the ERC, and thus I am the only individual who has the authority to reach findings and to make recommendations to the Commissioner of the RCMP - the essence of the ERC's statutory mandate. 

In addition to reporting its findings and recommendations to the Commissioner of the RCMP, the ERC also takes pains to ensure that its reports are accessible to all those who have an interest in resolving member grievances and appeals through rational decisions that will stand the test of judicial review by the Federal Court.  To that end, the ERC has made excellent use of online web-based technology to allow researchers, members and decision makers to search for past findings and recommendations as well as Commissioners' decisions and precedential case law.  The ever-increasing traffic on the ERC's website is a testament to its ability to design a utility that benefits Canadians at minimal cost.

I am pleased that the ERC has been able to make effective use of the resources entrusted to it.

Catherine Ebbs
Chair

SECTION I:  DEPARTMENTAL OVERVIEW

Raison d'être

The RCMP External Review Committee (ERC) is an independent federal tribunal that helps to ensure fair and equitable labour relations within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) .  The ERC does this by conducting thorough impartial reviews of certain types of grievances, disciplinary appeals, as well as discharge and demotion appeals.

The ERC's reviews contribute to transparency, fairness, and impartiality in RCMP labour relations processes for regular and civilian members.  The ERC's jurisdiction is restricted to regular members and civilian members only.  Public servants employed by the RCMP have a separate labour relations process.

As one of two oversight/review bodies over the RCMP (the other being the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP (CPC)), the ERC plays an important role in maintaining public confidence in the RCMP and ensures that it respects the law and human rights.

For more information on the ERC, visit the website at:  www.erc-cee.gc.ca.

Responsibilities

The ERC was established in 1988 under Part II of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act with a distinct mandate.  Its role is to conduct impartial and independent reviews of RCMP labour relations cases. These cases include grievance reviews in areas such as harassment, travel entitlements and relocation as well as appeals involving disciplinary measures, discharge and demotion.

Once a review is completed, the ERC provides its findings and recommendations on the case to the Commissioner of the RCMP.  The ERC provides findings and recommendations only.  The Commissioner of the RCMP takes the final decision and should the decision not follow the ERC's recommendations, the law requires that the Commissioner give reasons for not doing so.

In addition, the ERC engages in outreach activities designed to educate the RCMP and the public about its activities. The ERC issues a quarterly Communiqué and maintains a website (www.erc-cee.gc.ca) that includes summaries of all cases that the ERC has reviewed as well as articles of interest.

Strategic Outcome and Program Activity Architecture

Summary of Performance

^* Commencing in the 2009-10 Estimates cycle, the resources for Program Activity: Internal Services is displayed separately from other program activities; they are no longer distributed among the remaining program activities, as was the case in previous Main Estimates.  This has affected the comparability of spending and FTE information by Program Activity between fiscal years. As a result of its experience in attempting to meet the reporting requirements, the ERC determined that the uniquely small size of the organization made the reporting of this Program Activity particularly inaccurate.  The related expenditures could not be reliably apportioned between program activities without an inordinate expenditure of resources.  Treasury Board agreed with the ERC's assertion.  As such, the ERC has been granted an exemption until the end of the 2010-11 fiscal year from reporting on financial commitments to Internal Services as a separate Program Activity.

Contribution of Priorities to Strategic Outcome(s)

Risk Analysis

The ERC's successes this year are a reflection of its ability to continue to retain operational staff despite the determinate nature of the appointments it can offer in light of the temporary nature of the increases to its spending authorities.  This year, the ERC lost staff for a variety of reasons, but not necessarily associated with the determinate nature of its funding.  However staffing mitigation strategies permitted the ERC to attract highly qualified, and experienced staff which allowed its processes to proceed with relatively little interruption.

Staffing and retention continue to be the principal threat to the ERC's achievement of its program activity targets which is the reason that it has focussed efforts in this area.  The positive results of maintaining this focus have been encouraging.

Expenditure Profile

The receipt of a temporary increase in spending authorities contributed to the ERC's success in achieving its targets.  Staffing determinate positions in an uncertain environment led to a lag in spending evident in the chart below.

As indicated above, actual spending increased in 2009-10 further to temporarily increased authorities in order to meet statutory obligations.

SECTION II:  ANALYSIS OF PROGRAM ACTIVITIES BY STRATEGIC OUTCOME

Strategic Outcome

The 2009-10 Report on Plans and Priorities has one strategic outcome:

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police External Review Committee aims to positively influence the manner in which labour relations issues are addressed within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.

To achieve its strategic outcome, the ERC has identified two program activities:

1. Independent and impartial case review
2. Outreach and information dissemination

Program Activity by Strategic Outcome

The ERC concludes matters referred to it by the RCMP either on the basis of the material in the record or following a hearing.  In conducting its reviews, the ERC attempts to achieve timeliness and quality in its analysis and recommendations, and an equitable balance between all of the interested parties.  It relies on the principles of administrative and labour law and it respects the remedial approach indicated by the RCMP Act.  In each case, the ERC considers the public interest along with the members' interest in fair and equitable treatment.

The statutory mandate of the ERC in the RCMP Act is case review and it is in this respect that program activity 1 supports priority 1.

Benefits for Canadians

Canadians are served through the ERC's contribution to fair, transparent and accountable labour relations processes within the RCMP.  Canadians, and the RCMP itself, are assured that RCMP members are treated as would be expected by Canadians whose tax revenues support Canada's national police force.

Performance Analysis

Case Review

Referrals

Twenty-one cases were referred to ERC in 2009-10: 16 grievances and five disciplinary appeals.  The ERC received no referrals of discharge and demotion appeals this past year.

[Text version]

Cases Completed and Recommendations Issued

The ERC completed 35 cases in 2009-10: 29 regarding grievances and four regarding disciplinary appeals.  Two cases were withdrawn by the member before the ERC issued its findings and recommendations.  The ERC did not issue any findings and recommendations in discharge and demotion cases this past year.

[Text version]

Grievances

The chart below shows the distribution of this year's grievance recommendations by subject matter.

[Text version]

Over the course of several years, the ERC has taken steps to reduce the time to analyse each file and has managed to show appreciable improvement.  However during the course of the year, the ERC raised the priority of its discipline files, specifically those in which the member was ordered to resign or be terminated.  The volume of each of these type of cases and their complexity necessarily hampered the high performance ERC anticipated for the close of the year.  While this emphasis was expected to result in the reduction in average per case performance, the effect was less than anticipated and the impact on other files was relatively minor.  The ERC is convinced that despite this reduction in measurable performance the importance of these cases justified this decision.

At the start of 2009-10, 60 grievances and appeals were pending before the ERC, and at fiscal year end, there were 46 cases before the ERC for review.  The cases were distributed as follows:

• 34 pending grievances; and
• 12 pending disciplinary appeals.

Other Activities

The ERC curtailed its in-person outreach activities to the extent that those requiring additional funding or the excess expenditure of human resources were omitted.

Lessons Learned

From this year's analysis the ERC determined that there can be some improvement in its performance measurement and has been working closely with the Treasury Board Secretariat to develop more meaningful measurements.  As a result, the ERC will be seeking permission from Treasury Board for revisions to its Program Activity Architecture.

The ERC strives to make timely information accessible and achieved both its paper and electronic distribution targets as well as its digital posting targets.  As a result, the utility and the credibility of its website holdings is progressively becoming better recognized.

Summaries of the ERC's findings and recommendations in each case, as well as articles of interest, relevant legal principles and information on related issues, are distributed widely.  Communication and outreach tools include: a quarterly publication (Communiqué); a website with inclusion of publications and case summaries; the Annual Report; and presentations, meetings, offered training and other outreach activities.

This part of the ERC's work is dedicated to program activity 2, and it directly supports priority 2.

Performance Analysis

Requests for Information

In 2009-10, the ERC received a total of 114 requests for information.  On average, the ERC provided an answer to each such request within two days.  Over one third of the requests came from the RCMP and members of the public were the second largest group of requesters.  The news media have seldom called upon the ERC for formal comment which is reflective of its recognition as an independent administrative tribunal.

The graph below illustrates the range of general categories of requests received.  Several requests were straightforward and the requesters were given appropriate information and direction.  However other requests were complicated and required more time and effort for a complete and accurate response.  The preponderance of the median response time of one day indicates that a small number of complex inquiries were significantly time-consuming.

Lessons Learned

Given the ERC's priority for its case review function over its outreach and information dissemination, it has learned that the well-designed practical application of technology can effectively perpetuate and bolster such a function with the expenditure of relatively little additional resources.  This was first determined in the previous reporting cycle and has been confirmed in this second year of assessing this particular activity.  The ERC's efforts to investigate the benefits of the use of technology to disseminate information have been fruitful.

SECTION III:  SUPPLEMENTARY INFORMATION

Financial Highlights

^* During the year, the ERC adopted the revised Treasury Board accounting policy TBAS 1.2: Departmental and Agency Financial Statements which is effective for the ERC for the 2009-10 fiscal year.  The major change in the accounting policies of the ERC required by the adoption of the revised TBAS 1.2 is the recording of amounts due from the Consolidated Revenue Fund as an asset on the Statement of Financial Position.

The adoption of the new Treasury Board accounting policies have been accounted for retroactively with the following impact on comparatives for 2008-09:

Financial Highlights Chart

Note: Other (3.2%) includes expenses for utilities, material & supplies; equipment rentals; amortization; and repairs.

The ERC's expenditures are principally on its staff complement.  The second largest budget component is for professional and special services made up of several small scale contracts for a variety of transactional support services that in large departments is normally furnished by full time equivalents.  Given the small size of the ERC and its associated transactions in each of these areas, it is not possible to employ public servants to provide these specialized services in an ongoing efficient manner that builds internal capacity.  Additionally, the graph illustrates that the bulk of temporary additional resources was expended for human resources as intended.

Financial Statements

The ERC's 2009-10 financial statements can be found on its website at www.erc-cee.gc.ca.

Other Items of Interest

Organizational Information

The ERC reports directly to Parliament through the Minister of Public Safety.  The ERC has a single member, the Chair, who is appointed by Order in Council.

[Text version]

Resource Person

David Paradiso
Executive Director and Senior Counsel
RCMP External Review Committee
P.O. Box 1159, Station B
Ottawa, Ontario
K1P 5R2

Telephone: (613) 998-2874
Fax: (613) 990-8969
Email: org@erc-cee.gc.ca
Internet: www.erc-cee.gc.ca