Annual Report of the Management Advisory Board for the RCMP (April 2022 – March 2023)

On this page

• Message from the Current and Former Chairpersons
• Background and Mandate
• MAB Membership
• MAB Governance Structure
• MAB Foundations
  • Strategic Planning and Prioritization
  • Foundational Items
  • Governance Elements
• Substantive Advisory Work of the MAB
  • Cadet Training Program via the Training and Education Taskforce
  • Indigenous Recruitment Taskforce
  • Federal Policing Transformation Taskforce
  • Externalization of the Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution
  • RCMP’s review of conduct measures
  • MAB Communications Initiative
• The Way Forward
• Conclusion

Message from the Current and Former Chairpersons

On behalf of the Management Advisory Board for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (MAB) we are pleased to present this annual report for the 2022-23 fiscal year.

As the current and former MAB Chairpersons, we express our gratitude to the members of the MAB for their ongoing efforts and dedication to their advisory role. Together, we have implemented foundational pieces to help modernize the RCMP. We look forward to playing a greater role with respect to civilian oversight in the near future.

We thank the RCMP’s Commissioner and Senior Executives for providing information and access to the work of the organization, engaging in thoughtful conversation with the MAB, and for acknowledging and considering our advice. We hope to continue to strengthen this relationship further in the future as the Board takes on enhanced roles and responsibilities.

Recent events have highlighted the importance and need for the RCMP to be flexible and to better adjust to respond to the needs of Canadians, its members, and staff. The MAB aims to help the RCMP become stronger and more responsive to the needs of all who are affected by its important work.  

This reporting period has been a time of transition and eagerness for the MAB in anticipation of the appointment or re-appointment of more members through the Government of Canada’s Open and Transparent Merit-Based (OTMB) selection process for Governor in Council appointments to the MAB.

In January and February 2023 Chairperson Roach and Vice-Chairperson Coakeley were appointed. Even with these two appointments, MAB only has seven members of the possible thirteen members at the end of the fiscal year. Throughout 2022-23, this capacity issue has disadvantaged MAB’s ability to advance key priorities, provide advice to the Commissioner, and hold the RCMP to account given the Board’s low membership numbers.

Despite this challenge, the Board has worked to forge ahead through this time of uncertainty and change, advising the RCMP on topics of utmost importance; including Indigenous recruitment, federal policing transformation, and the cadet training program to name a few.  

We look forward to strengthening the MAB going forward to continue to advise on topics of paramount significance, and reinvigorating the MAB as it begins to take on more oversight of the RCMP. We also anticipate the launch of our website, separate from the RCMP’s, as a way for MAB to better communicate about our work and our role.

Sincerely,

Kent Roach
Chair, Management Advisory Board

Doug Moen
Previous Chair, Management Advisory Board

Background and Mandate

The MAB was established in 2019 as an independent advisory body under the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act^{Footnote 1} (RCMP Act). The MAB is mandated to provide the Commissioner of the RCMP with advice, information and reports on the administration and management of the RCMP. 

Since its inception, the MAB has engaged on all elements of its legislated mandate. Some areas of engagement have been more in-depth, including providing advice, guidance and recommendations, while other areas have focused on information gathering to support the MAB’s advisory role. Under Section V of the RCMP Act, the MAB is mandated to provide advice on:

• the development and implementation of transformation and modernization plans;
• the effective and efficient use of resources;
• the actions to be taken to reduce corporate risks;
• the development and implementation of policies and management controls that support the operation of the RCMP;
• the development and implementation of corporate and strategic plans; and
• the development and implementation of operating and capital budgets.

MAB provides its advice to the Commissioner, but may also under the RCMP Act provide the Minister of Public Safety with copies or summaries of its advice.

MAB Membership

Members of the Management Advisory Board (2022-23)

Mr. Doug Moen, Member, Chairperson until January 2023
Mr. Kent Roach, Chairperson (Appointed January 2023)
Mr. Simon Coakeley, Vice-Chairperson (Appointed February 2023)
Mr. Randy Ambrosie, Member (Tenure ended December 2022)
Dr. Elaine Bernard, Member (Tenure ended December 2022)
Ms. Angela Campbell, Member
Ms. Audrey Campbell, Member
Dr. Ghayda Hassan, Member
Ms. Maureen Kempston Darkes, Member

Membership was a topic of ongoing discussion for MAB in 2022-23. The MAB is legislated to be a maximum of thirteen part-time members, which includes the Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, and eleven members. Throughout 2022-23, the MAB had far fewer members than allowed for in the RCMP Act. The Board ended 2022 calendar year with only 7 appointed members. A Chairperson was appointed on January 27^th, 2023 and a Vice-Chairperson was appointed on February 16^th, 2023.

During this reporting period there has been much anticipation of the appointment or re-appointment of MAB members through the Government of Canada’s Open, Transparent and Merit-Based (OTMB) selection process for Governor in Council appointments. The OTMB process launched in July 2022, to seek new applicants to the MAB. So far, this has resulted in Chairperson Kent Roach’s appointment on January 27^th, 2023 and Vice-Chairperson, Simon Coakeley’s appointment on February 16^th, 2023. Including these two recent appointees, MAB ended the fiscal year with only seven members of the possible thirteen members permitted in the RCMP Act. Compounding this period of anticipation, the appointments of all of the current members, with the exception of Chair Roach and Vice-Chair Coakeley, will expire by July 2023. 

Throughout 2022-23, this membership uncertainty and membership capacity challenge (due to low membership numbers) have hampered the advancement of key MAB priorities and impacted the provision of advice to the Commissioner to the fullest extent of the Board’s ability.  

MAB Governance Structure

In 2022-23 fiscal year, the MAB reviewed its governance and committee structure, which consists of the Board, two standing committees, and time-limited taskforces. The MAB meets at least four times annually, not including the meetings of its two standing committees and various time-limited taskforces that meet throughout the year.

Standing Committees:

The MAB has two standing committees, the Human Resources Standing Committee and the Management and Finance Standing Committee. The standing committees receive informational updates on the RCMP’s human resources, administration/management, and financial picture. Standing committees meet at least twice a year and are led by a member of the MAB selected by the MAB Chair. At Board meetings or upon request of the MAB Chair the lead of each standing committee provides the MAB with periodic updates on the committee’s activities. With the small membership numbers this fiscal year, the Standing Committees have not been very active, although the Finance and Management Standing Committee discussions sparked the work on the Federal Policing taskforce.

Taskforces:

The MAB establishes time-limited taskforces to take on specific topics that will meaningfully advance RCMP modernization and provide direct advice to the Commissioner. Each taskforce has a taskforce lead, appointed by the MAB Chair. Taskforces are comprised of MAB members with RCMP support. Once a taskforce has concluded its time-limited work, a final advisory report is presented to MAB and sent to the Commissioner with a request for actionable response to the recommendations, this is known as a ‘management response action plan’. The taskforce is then dissolved. Some early taskforces were more exploratory in nature, pre-cursors to the establishment of standing committees for example, and did not produce final advisory reports. Section 6 of this report provides an overview of the taskforce work that occurred in 2022-23.  

MAB Foundations

Strategic Planning and Prioritization:

In February 2022, the Board undertook an initial strategic planning exercise to prioritize and guide the areas of focus for MAB to work on. Since then, MAB received information and presentations on all priority topics, has had robust discussions with RCMP senior executives on many of the topics, and has provided written advice on some topics. Some of the MAB priority topics were derived from re-appointment letters from the Minister of Public Safety to some renewing MAB members, as well as the MAB’s own information and knowledge gathering.

Through the strategic planning exercise, the following were identified as MAB’s 2022-23 key priorities:

• Impact of the externalization of the Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution;
• Review of the RCMP's conduct measures;
• Contract Policing assessment;
• Development of national standards for police intervention;
• Indigenous policing;
• Cadet Training Program;
• Federal Policing transformation; and,
• MAB Communication initiatives.

While these priorities allowed the Board to focus its resources on the most important and relevant matters, the MAB was in a time of transition in 2022-23. In light of this, the Board has had to remain flexible and adjust its priorities as needed to best support the modernization of the RCMP and reflect the capacity of the MAB. When MAB landed on the above eight priorities, it did so ambitiously, not anticipating the consistently low membership the MAB would be faced with in 2022-23. The MAB’s capacity issues were due to the dwindling membership numbers and lack of appointments from the ongoing OTMB process. 

Foundational Items:

One of the MAB’s priorities in this fiscal year was to solidify a strong foundation for the future success of the Board. It is essential for the Board to have a lasting and long-term impact on the RCMP, that members have a consistent approach to developing advice and issuing that guidance to the Commissioner. As such, MAB prioritized the creation of the MAB Guide Book, a robust document collection that includes foundational materials for MAB members. The Guide Book has already been used to familiarize the Chair and Vice-Chair with the MAB.

Throughout 2022-23, MAB remained apprised of the Government of Canada’s mandate commitments and its expectations of both the RCMP and the MAB. In December 2021, the Prime Minister mandated the Minister of Public Safety to further enhance the MAB to create an oversight role over the RCMP in line with other Canadian police services. Then in May 2022, the Minister laid out expectations to the Commissioner, including that the Commissioner ensure the MAB is fully supported as it takes on a greater oversight role.

MAB is supported by a professional secretariat that works to support the Board in fulfilling its mandate. The MAB Secretariat is comprised of civilian public service employees who provide strategic, research, administrative, and logistical support to the MAB Chair, Vice-Chair, and Board members. The MAB Secretariat is led by a Director General within the Strategic Policy and External Relations team of the RCMP. The Secretariat staff have professional experience in: administration, policy analysis, performance measurement, project management, and executive support to Boards and leadership.

Governance Elements:

In November 2022, the MAB finalized a MAB Charter, a guiding document that describes at a high-level the governance framework, composition, responsibilities, duties and key operating procedures of the MAB. As a complement to this document, the MAB also developed a document titled Roles and Responsibilities related to MAB to outline the roles and responsibilities of the MAB Chairperson, Vice-Chairperson, members, Secretary, and others in relation to the MAB.

In 2022, MAB also developed a MAB Committee Governance Overview. Within this document, it is outlined for example, that the Chair of the MAB would be responsible for providing strategic direction and oversight of the MAB and would therefore not be a member of the Steering/Standing Committees or taskforces.

MAB also drafted the MAB Standing Committee Terms of Reference that describe the Terms of Reference for the two Standing Committees of the MAB as a complement to the MAB Charter. This and other governance documents will be explored further, once the Board membership is stabilized.   

Substantive Advisory Work of the MAB

Much of the work by the MAB on its priority areas has been through time-limited taskforces. In 2022-23, MAB continued to provide advice to the Commissioner and the rest of the RCMP on elements of the organization’s modernization efforts. For example, MAB provided guidance to improve the RCMP's workplace culture; including input into the renewal of the RCMP core values and the organizational values statement; advice about the Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution (ICHR); advice to help increase the recruitment of Indigenous regular members; and recommendations to improve the RCMP’s Cadet Training Program including an increased role for community members as educators in the program. In 2022-23, MAB began work on exploring the transformation of Federal Policing including through increased use of civilian members as educators in the program. In 2022-23, MAB began work on exploring the transformation of Federal Policing including learning more about specialized skillsets required such as civilian criminal investigators.

Cadet Training Program via the Training and Education Taskforce:

The MAB’s Training and Education Taskforce was struck in 2021 to focus on the RCMP’s Regular Member (RM) training. Over time the taskforce systematically and with considerable depth explored the RCMP’s Cadet Training Program (CTP) as a critical component in the RCMP’s training and education offerings. The taskforce collected quantitative and qualitative data, collected background documents, examined the curricula, case studies and scenarios. It also conducted a multi-day site visit to the RCMP’s national training academy at Depot. During its time at Depot, the Taskforce interviewed cadets, facilitators, and staff. It submitted its final advisory report on the CTP to the RCMP Commissioner in June 2022. The MAB requested a formal response to the recommendations contained in the written advisory report, on a template developed in this fiscal year for this purpose. The RCMP provided a formal response to the MAB’s recommendations in September 2022, and committed to providing bi-annual updates to MAB on its progress moving forward. The MAB hopes that this will establish a template for ensuring effective response by the RCMP to its future reports and advice.

Indigenous Recruitment Taskforce:

The MAB’s Recruitment Taskforce became first active in 2020, to assess and provide advice on recruitment within the RCMP. The Taskforce on Recruitment opted to focus on recruitment related to Regular Members (RMs) and then more specifically on Indigenous RMs. This decision was based on data illustrating static/declining recruitment of this particular population group. In June 2021, the taskforce released a preliminary advisory report to the RCMP on the topic of Indigenous Recruitment. The report included the following themes: the need to recruit Indigenous clusters or Indigenous-only cohorts to Depot; the need to strengthen partnerships and engagement with Indigenous communities; and the need for a national strategy and standards for Indigenous recruitment with local implementation that reflects divisional realities.

In June 2022, MAB decided to revisit the Recruitment Taskforce’s report on Indigenous Recruitment with a view to updating the report to take the RCMP’s ongoing work, and relevant national developments, into account. In 2022-23, the Taskforce held key-informant interviews, in-camera sessions, and conducted document review to learn more about this critically important topic. The Taskforce aims to present the RCMP with a report in the 2023-24 fiscal year, including formal recommendations and a requested timeline for the RCMP to provide a response.

Federal Policing Transformation Taskforce:

In late 2022, the MAB began to focus its efforts on learning more about the RCMP’s Federal Policing program. The MAB has now established a taskforce to provide advice to the RCMP on the transformation of Federal Policing.

The Taskforce recognizes that the Federal Policing program is complex, it has a multifaceted and extensive mandate that includes the enforcement of federal laws, security of Canadian borders, intelligence gathering and disruption, collaboration with international partners, and ensuring the safety of critical infrastructure. The Taskforce has learned that the RCMP’s Federal Policing program faces numerous emerging and urgent operational priorities. These include evolving criminal threats as well as the retirement of members with specialized skills that are necessary to discharge the evolving and challenging federal policing mandate.

The Taskforce will take a phased approach to the study of Federal Policing, starting with learning more about the specialized skillsets needed, particularly the specialized criminal investigators and the Federal Policing response to Civilian Criminal Investigators program. In 2022-23, the taskforce held key-informant interviews and conducted document review to learn more about this critically important topic. The Taskforce is interested in the review that is currently ongoing by the National Security and Intelligence Committee of Parliamentarians (NSICOP) which is exploring Federal Policing’s mandate, governance and financial models.

Externalization of the Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution:

Throughout 2022-23, MAB continued to learn more about the Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution (ICHR) and the Government’s commitment to RCMP reform, including options for externalizing the ICHR. The ICHR is a centralized, independent unit that facilitates the resolution of harassment and violence occurrences for RCMP employees. In 2022-23, the MAB provided written advice about the externalization of the ICHR, and noted the Centre’s important contribution to culture change within the RCMP. The MAB is committed to the ongoing monitoring of this important file, and will continue to be consulted in its regard. 

RCMP’s review of conduct measures:

The RCMP is conducting an external expert review of its current disciplinary measures and their application, also known as the conduct measures guide review. Throughout 2022-23, MAB has been engaged on various phases of this review. MAB was consulted on the RCMP’s response to the first phase of the Conduct Measures Guide review, and will be engaged on the RCMP’s plans to address the recommendations resulting from the second phase of the review and on proposed changes to the Conduct Measures Guide.

MAB Communications Initiative:

The MAB began its Communications initiative early in 2022, with the MAB’s communications co-champions spearheading internal RCMP communications initiatives, including updating the RCMP’s internal website “InfoWeb”, to include information about the MAB. This information included a motion-graphic about the MAB, which was highlighted to RCMP employees on the intranet’s homepage in June and October 2022.

The MAB advised that a public facing website is required to provide the public with a centralized source of information about the MAB and its work. Work continues towards establishing an external website for MAB, which we aim to launch in first half of the 2023-24 fiscal year.  

The Way Forward

The MAB has operated under capacity constraints with a reduced number of members. It will be important to note that under the RCMP Act, the MAB is to be “representative of the diversity of Canadian society and that is comprised of members who have the experience and the capacity required to carry out the Board’s mandate.” As such, the MAB expects that diversity in representation across a range of factors will be of topmost priority for the Government of Canada when forthcoming appointments are made. The need for Indigenous members of the MAB is particularly urgent as well as coast-to-coast-to-coast representation to parallel the RCMP’s policing responsibilities.

In 2023-2024 the MAB will continue to strategically prioritize the areas where it can carry out its important advisory role. As leadership and membership of the MAB expands, this priority setting will be of paramount importance.  

Going forward, the MAB may be asked to play a larger role in the work to advance enhanced oversight and accountability of the RCMP. The MAB has indicated to the Minister of Public Safety that it is willing to offer its expertise to assist in the selection of a new Commissioner of the RCMP. As the MAB establishes its own priorities, procedures and work plans, it expects additional oversight and accountability responsibilities.  

In 2023-2024, the MAB will continue to leverage its expertise on matters of systemic discrimination and occupational culture to provide advice on the ICHR. This will include receiving regular updates and providing guidance to the RCMP on the implementation of the ICHR. MAB will also use its expertise on disciplinary matters and in law to continue to be engaged on the RCMP’s review of Conduct Measures, including being kept apprised of the consultations anticipated to occur early in the 2023-2024 fiscal year.

MAB recognizes that public trust in the RCMP, and trust from the communities it serves, partners and stakeholders, is integral to the RCMP’s ability to undertake its duties and responsibilities. The MAB will continue to be actively engaged in those management and administrative matters that are critical components of the RCMP’s operational mandate. It will also be concerned with the RCMP’s ability to attract and retain a more modern and diverse workforce.

With the release of “Turning the Tide Together – the Final Report of the Mass Casualty Commission” on March 30, 2023, the MAB is referenced in a number of areas of the report. The MAB welcomes this important report and looks forward to working with the RCMP and the Department of Public Safety Canada with respect to its findings and recommendations as they relate to the RCMP. The MAB will launch its own website in the first half of the 2023-24 fiscal year to ensure more transparency about its work.

Conclusion

The MAB will continue to advise the RCMP on its necessary modernization. At the same time, MAB is well aware of the need to be nimble and strategic in establishing its own priorities.

With the foundational pieces the MAB set up in 2022-23, the MAB will be positioned to onboard new members more efficiently and to take on more civilian oversight responsibilities. We thank Commissioner Lucki and Commissioner Duheme for their willingness to work with the MAB. The MAB looks forward to playing a role in the selection of, and working closely with, the new Commissioner.

Thanks to all members of the MAB, its secretariat, the RCMP, and those within the Department of Public Safety who contribute their valuable time and expertise to help inform our advice.

While this annual report of MAB showcases some successes over the course of this past fiscal year, it remains to be said that the MAB’s work is not done. The MAB is strongly committed to continuing to advise the RCMP and acknowledges there is important work that remains to be done towards modernizing the organization. The MAB looks forward to welcoming more members and assuming greater responsibilities in the next years.