Letter to Commissioner Duheme regarding MAB’s February 2024 Quarterly Meeting

February 13, 2024

 

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

 

Dear Commissioner,

On behalf of the Management Advisory Board for the RCMP (MAB), I write to thank you for spending time with us throughout our quarterly meeting at RCMP National Headquarters last week. As the advisory body legislatively responsible for advising the RCMP Commissioner, it is critical for the MAB to have time with you and to hear from you about the vital work you are leading within the Force, including the areas where you and your team are making progress and facing challenges.

Please also extend our sincere appreciation to the Senior Executive Committee (SEC) members who joined us. It is integral for the work of the MAB to learn and consider the context and challenges facing SEC members and their portfolios, as well as to keep up-to-date with the progress being made across various sectors. The Board is considering how we can best continue to engage meaningfully with the SEC updates at future meetings.

The MAB was heartened to hear during our meeting about areas where the RCMP is overcoming some daunting challenges, notably in relation to federal policing and recruitment, which have been major preoccupants for both the RCMP and the MAB. The MAB again salutes the resourcefulness, efforts, and perseverance of all RCMP leaders and members who have worked on these areas and urges all to sustain momentum so that progress can continue.

The MAB also wishes to highlight the importance of ensuring ongoing diligence and attention in responding to its advice and recommendations. Accordingly, we urge the RCMP to ensure that its Indigenous Recruitment Management Response Action Plan (MRAP) due on January 6, 2024, is completed as soon as possible to allow for a timely and complete discussion on the RCMP responses. The RCMP’s MRAP related to the MAB’s advisory report on Federal Policing is due to the MAB by the end of March 2024. It is essential to MAB that these MRAPs include specific deadlines for action on recommendations that the RCMP has accepted and provide reasons where recommendations are not accepted.

In addition, further to discussion points arising during our meeting of last week, the MAB requests the following on or before March 15:

• RCMP policy or protocol for validating applicants and members’ self-identification as Indigenous persons;
• Overview of steps underway within the RCMP to reduce the application processing time for Regular Members which, we understand, is currently at 323 days; and
• Continued updates, as they are available, on the process of collective bargaining with the National Police Federation, particularly insofar as this affects the RCMP’s ability to recruit members for direct entry to federal policing.

The MAB Secretariat will follow up in writing directly with affected RCMP business lines for copies of the aforementioned documents.

Thank you again for your support and enthusiasm for the MAB, which is crucial to the effectiveness of our work. I am always happy to speak on any issue that may arise intersecting with the MAB’s mandate.

Sincerely,

Professor Angela Campbell
Chairperson, Management Advisory Board for the RCMP

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