Letter to Commissioner Duheme following the MAB's May 2025 Quarterly Meeting

May 21, 2025

Commissioner Mike Duheme
RCMP National Headquarters
73 Leikin Drive
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0R2

Dear Commissioner Duheme,

I write further to the MAB Quarterly meeting May 12-14 at NHQ. We want to thank Senior Deputy Commissioner Larkin for standing in for you and leading conversations with MAB with terrific skill and energy. We also thank SEC members for their deep engagement with MAB on a range of issues critical to the future of the RCMP.

While a range of issues were discussed at the Quarterly, this letter will focus on just one, which we see as needing your urgent attention.

The MAB’s concerns regarding recruitment of RCMP regular members are significant. The Board believes that this matter, if not attended to urgently and through broad process reform, presents a risk to the RCMP’s ability to sustain its operations with the excellence that Canadians have come to expect from the Force.

Since the beginning of your tenure as Commissioner you have identified RM recruitment as your top priority. The MAB supports this prioritization, and has been working for several years in a range of contexts to provide its best advice to you in this area.

Over this time, the MAB has seen some improvements in processes, but critical gaps remain. The MAB believes that RCMP recruitment is at a critical juncture and that the systems and processes presently in place are a long way from meeting the RCMP’s operational needs. While we have seen some proposals for reform that are correctly oriented, they do not address fundamental challenges with the process for evaluating and retaining prospective recruits through the applicant evaluation process. As such, what has thus far been proposed will not get the RCMP where it must go within the necessary timeframe.

Accordingly, the MAB is of the view that systemic reform is needed. Such reform would begin with an expert process review and include a plan for bold and concrete change that would demonstrate an openness to looking at recruitment systems and processes from the inside out. In other words, such reform would be willing to take on the recruitment systems at their very core, with a view to recruiting effectively and efficiently top RM talent from across Canada, of all identities and lived experiences, efficiently and effectively.

On behalf of MAB, I trust that you will take this letter in the spirit with which it is intended, namely, to provide sound advice on a matter of critical importance to the RCMP and to community safety in Canada.

I am happy to discuss this matter with you at your convenience.

Sincerely,

Professor Angela Campbell

Chairperson, Management Advisory Board

CC:        Minister of Public Safety Canada

              Deputy Minister of Public Safety Canada