RCMP External Review Committee - Departmental Results Report 2021-22

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The Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P
Minister of Public Safety

Chairperson's message

I am pleased to present the 2021-22 Departmental Results Report for the RCMP External Review Committee (ERC).

The pandemic has made adapting to new realities a necessity. ERC employees showed both resilience and adaptability to ensure the ERC is fully operational and productive. The ERC will continue to put the wellbeing and mental health of its employees at the forefront now more than ever, as the new reality has become the normality.

The ERC has successfully implemented a hybrid workplace which gives employees the flexibilities required in an evolving work environment and promotes a work life-balance while ensuring productivity levels are achieved.

The permanent additional funding received in the Fall of 2020, provided the ERC in 2021-2022 with the additional resources necessary to start meeting our service standards and backlog strategies. The onboarding and training of the new resources was completed successfully in a virtual format due to the modernization of our processes and tools. The ERC is an employer of choice with its many ongoing wellness initiatives and employee support as well as necessary modernized hybrid flexibilities to ensure we attract, retain, support and empower a high-performing, diverse, healthy, safe and inclusive workforce.

The growing ERC team will ensure success in its strategies and in delivering independent reviews, findings and recommendations to thoroughly address important employment, labour and conduct matters within the RCMP. The ERC completed reviews and issued findings and recommendations for 70 internal RCMP appeal cases this past year. Continuous program improvement remains a priority for the ERC. With this in mind, we strive for our work to be of value to all parties, regardless of the recommended outcome.

Charles Randall Smith

Chairperson

Results at a glance

Results Achieved

Issued findings and recommendations in 70 internal RCMP appeal cases for employment and labour relations matters.
Managed two streams of appeal case referrals from the RCMP (cases under the current legislation since late 2014, and cases referred under the legacy legislation).
Posted summaries of findings and recommendations regularly and published four Communiqué reports to support awareness of RCMP workplace and recourse issues.
Established service standards and backlog strategies.
Implemented a guide on diversity and inclusion as well as employee sessions on inclusion, diversity, equity and anti-racism.
Financial and corporate services reporting requirements were completed.
Implemented a hybrid workplace.

What funds were used?

$3,874,705

Actual Spending

Who was involved?

22.3 FTEs

Actual FTEs

For more information on the RCMP External Review Committee’s plans, priorities and results achieved, see the “Results: what we achieved” section of this report.

Results: what we achieved

Core responsibility

Independent review of RCMP employment matters

Description:

Independent and impartial case reviews, findings and recommendations for final decisions in appeals of internal RCMP decisions in harassment complaints, conduct cases, discharges or demotions, and stoppages of pay and allowances.

Results:

The organization’s success in leading its employees and adapting to the new reality brought forward by the Coronavirus pandemic was instrumental in achieving its results.

The ERC has implemented a hybrid workplace which continues to prove to be productive while supporting employees in an evolving work environment. The ERC will continue to put the wellbeing and mental health of its employees at the forefront and will continue offering access to a variety of services to employees through agreements with service providers as well as ongoing training and support.

The ERC has implemented a Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Guide to encourage and engage employees on their awareness and education on ongoing diversity issues. A diversity expert was hired to meet with employees in an all staff session on self-awareness and to discuss ongoing societal diversity issues and its individual impacts.

In 2021-22, the ERC increased its resources with the additional permanent funding secured in the Fall of 2020-21 to address and support its program capacity and integrity. The ERC’s virtual onboarding and training of these new resources was highly successful. This demonstrated that the modernization of processes and tools at the ERC was tested and applied.

Over the last 3 years, with the additional resources and review of its processes and established operational strategies the ERC has been in a position to issue more findings and recommendations reports as well as implement service standards and backlog strategies to raise productivity levels.

In 2021-22 the ERC has completed reviews and issued findings and recommendations for 70 case files. Forty-one of these were issued under the current RCMP Act and 29 case files were reviewed under the legacy legislation.

Files completed per year
Year	2014-15	2015-16	2016-17	2017-18	2018-19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22
Legacy	40	17	31	14	8	31	48	29
Current Legislation	0	12	7	12	15	39	27	41
Total Files Completed	40	29	38	26	23	70	75	70

The ERC’s reviews, findings and recommendations support the integrity of decision‑making in the individual appeal cases reviewed, accountability and the integrity of the RCMP recourse system, and a healthy RCMP workplace.

The RCMP Act requires that the Chairperson establish and make public service standards with time limits for the completion of its case reviews. During this reporting period, two service standards were introduced that will be phased in over fiscal years 2020-22 with reporting starting in 2022-23. As of April 1, 2022, all new cases referred to the ERC are no longer added to the backlog and are subject to the new service standards introduced in 2021.

The reduction of the backlog remains a priority for which the ERC developed strategies to ensure it can provide findings and recommendations in a timely manner.

The searchable database on the ERC's website continues to provide access to regularly-updated summaries of ERC findings and recommendations and of RCMP Commissioner final decisions issued. Four issues of the ERC Communiqué publication – providing the most recent summaries – are also available on the ERC's website.

Results achieved

The following table shows, for independent review of RCMP employment matters, the results achieved, the performance indicators, the targets and the target dates for 2021–22, and the actual results for the three most recent fiscal years for which actual results are available.

Results achieved
Departmental results	Performance indicators	Target	Date to achieve target	2019–20 Actual results	2020-21 Actual results	2021–22 Actual results
ERC’s findings and recommendations support fair and transparent RCMP recourse processes and decision-making.	The degree to which RCMP final decisions concord with ERC recommendations, expressed as the % of the RCMP final decisions that fully agree, partly agree or do not agree with the recommendations.	Up to 100%; no specific target.	Ongoing	Agreed in 82%, agreed in part in 4% and disagreed in 14%	Agreed in 76%, agreed in part in 0% and disagreed in 24%	Agreed in 96% and disagreed in 4%
Findings and recommendations are issued in a timely manner.	% of findings and recommendations that are issued within the service standard.	100%	2022-23	Not applicable	Not applicable (Reporting period starting in 2022-23)	Not applicable (Reporting period starting in 2022‑23)
RCMP members and the public have access to current information on the issues addressed by the ERC in its reviews.	Frequency of website postings of the latest summaries of ERC findings and recommendations and of RCMP final decisions.	100% posted within two months following the end of the quarter.	Ongoing	100%	66.5% (website posting of findings and recommendations summaries in the two first quarters of the fiscal year were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The ERC was 100% on target for the 3rd and 4th quarter.)	84% Note – We were 100% through 3 quarters and then missed Q4 due to web migration

Financial, human resources and performance information for the RCMP External Review Committee’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

The following table shows, for independent review of RCMP employment matters, budgetary spending for 2021–22, as well as actual spending for that year.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)
2021–22 Main Estimates	2021–22 planned spending	2021–22 total authorities available for use	2021–22 actual spending (authorities used)	2021–22 difference (actual spending minus planned spending)
6,432,998	6,432,998	6,186,698	3,874,705	(2,558,293)

As the appeal case reviews program is the sole program of the RCMP External Review Committee, there is no information on any lower-level programs for the organization.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the RCMP External Review Committee’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)

The following table shows, in full‑time equivalents, the human resources the department needed to fulfill this core responsibility for 2021–22.

Human resources (full-time equivalents)
2021–22 planned full-time equivalents	2021–22 actual full-time equivalents	2021–22 difference (actual full-time equivalents minus planned full‑time equivalents)
33	22.3	10.7

As the appeal case reviews program is the sole program of the RCMP External Review Committee, there is no information on any lower-level programs for the organization.

Financial, human resources and performance information for the RCMP External Review Committee’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Internal Services

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the internal services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are:

Acquisition Management Services
Communication Services
Financial Management Services
Human Resources Management Services
Information Management Services
Information Technology Services
Legal Services
Material Management Services
Management and Oversight Services
Real Property Management Services

The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat granted the ERC an exemption from reporting on Internal Services as a separate program beginning in 2009-10 (given the focused nature of the ERC program and associated resources). This Report, therefore, presents information based on a single ERC program and does not provide information on Internal Services separately.

Spending and human resources

Spending

Spending 2019-20 to 2024-25

The following graph presents planned (voted and statutory spending) over time.

Image description

Departmental spending trend
Fiscal Year	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24	2024-25
Statutory	250,590	294,694	381,688	632,359	632,359	632,359
Voted	2,882,311	2,890,822	3,493,017	5,801,194	5,801,194	5,801,194
Total	3,132,901	3,185,516	3,874,705	6,433,553	6,433,553	6,433,553

In the Fall of fiscal year 2020-21, the ERC has secured additional permanent ongoing funding to support program capacity and integrity. With increased resources to deliver on its mandate in a timely and effective manner, the ERC will contribute to the integrity of the RCMP’s recourse system.

Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)

The “Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and internal services” table presents the budgetary financial resources allocated for the RCMP External Review Committee’s core responsibilities and for internal services.

Budgetary performance summary for core responsibilities and internal services (dollars)
Core responsibilities and Internal Services	2021-22 Main Estimates	2021-22 Planned spending	2022–23 Planned spending	2023–24 Planned spending	2021–22 Total authorities available for use	2019-20 Actual spending (authorities used)	2020-21 Actual spending (authorities used)	2021–22 Actual spending (authorities used)
Independent review of RCMP employment matters	6,432,998	6,432,998	6,433,553	6,433,553	6,186,698	3,132,901	3,185,516	3,874,705
Subtotal	6,432,998	6,432,998	6,433,553	6,433,553	6,186,698	3,132,901	3,185,516	3,874,705
Internal Services*	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	6,432,998	6,432,998	6,433,553	6,433,553	6,186,698	3,132,901	3,185,516	3,874,705

* The ERC is currently exempted from reporting separately on Internal Services expenditures.

The ERC over the last several years was operating on temporary funding. In the Fall of fiscal year 2020-21, the ERC has secured additional permanent ongoing funding to support program capacity and integrity. With increased resources to deliver on its mandate in a timely and effective manner, the ERC will contribute to the integrity of the RCMP’s recourse system.

The lapse of $2.5 M this year is due in large to staffing challenges therefore not filling the 33 FTEs as predicted and training and development costs were significantly lower with virtual platforms instead of in person where travel costs are normally included.

Human resources

The “Human resources summary for core responsibilities and internal services” table presents the full-time equivalents (FTEs) allocated to each of the RCMP External Review Committee’s core responsibilities and to internal services.

Human resources summary for core responsibilities and internal Services
Core responsibilities and Internal Services	2019–20 Actual full-time equivalents	2020–21 Actual full-time equivalents	2021–22 Planned full-time equivalents	2021–22 Actual full-time equivalents	2022–23 Planned full-time equivalents	2023–24 Planned full-time equivalents
Independent review of RCMP employment matters	14.9	16.5	33	22.3	33	33
Subtotal	14.9	16.5	33	22.3	33	33
Internal Services*	-	-	-	-	-	-
Total	14.9	16.5	33	22.3	33	33

*The ERC is currently exempted from reporting separately on Internal Services expenditures.

With additional permanent funding the ERC revised its complement of FTEs for 2021-22 and ongoing to 33 to deliver its appeal case review program.

The ERC was able to acquire 11 new hires throughout 2021-22 with full virtual onboarding. The ERC didn't reach the total of 33 FTEs resourcing capacity as predicted as the abitliy to hire specialized knowledge and skillsets required for many positions was a challenge in the pandemic reality. Candidates were reluctant to make a change due to uncertainties in the outside world.

Expenditures by vote

For information on the RCMP External Review Committee’s organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2020–2021.

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of the RCMP External Review Committee’s spending with the Government of Canada’s spending and activities is available in GC InfoBase.

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial statements

The RCMP External Review Committee’s financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2022, are available on the departmental website.

Financial statement highlights

Condensed statement of operations (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2022 (dollars)
Financial information	2021–22 Planned results	2021–22 Actual results	2020–21 Actual results	Difference (2021–22 Actual results minus 2021–22 Planned results)	Difference (2021–22 Actual results minus 2020–21 Actual results)
Total expenses	6,779,840	4,393,317	3,600,947	(2,386,523)	792,370
Total revenues	0	0	0	0	0
Net cost of operations before government funding and transfers	6,779,840	4,393,317	3,600,947	(2,386,523)	792,370

The ERC’s total expenses in 2021-22 increased by $792,370 compared to 2020-21 actual results. The increase in expenses in 2021-22 is primarily due to operating expenses in salary.

Segmented information in Note 9 of the Financial Statements provides the details by type of expenses.

Condensed statement of financial position (unaudited) as of March 31, 2022 (dollars)
Financial information	2021–22	2020–21	Difference (2021–22 minus 2020-21)
Total net liabilities	446,996	378,916	68,080
Total net financial assets	196,299	229,368	(33,069)
Departmental net debt	250,697	149,548	101,149
Total non-financial assets	0	0	0
Departmental net financial position	(250,697)	(149,548)	(101,149)

The ERC’s total liabilities increased by $68,080 in 2021-22 compared to 2020-21. This is mainly due to an increase in accounts payable and accrued liabilities.

The 2021–22 planned results information is provided in the RCMP External Review Committee Future-Oriented Statement of Operations and Notes 2021–22

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister: The Honourable Marco E. L. Mendicino, P.C., M.P.

Institutional head: Charles Randall Smith, Chairperson

Ministerial portfolio: Public Safety

Enabling instrument: Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, R.S.C 1985, c. R-10

Year of incorporation/commencement: 1986

Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

“Raison d’être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on the RCMP External Review Committee’s website.

For more information on the department’s organizational mandate letter commitments, see the Minister’s mandate letter.

Operating context

Information on the operating context is available on the RCMP External Review Committee’s website.

Reporting framework

The RCMP External Review Committee (ERC)’s Departmental Results Framework and Program Inventory of record for 2021-22 are shown below.

Departmental results framework
Independent review of RCMP employment matters
Departmental Result	Indicator
ERC’s findings and recommendations support fair and transparent RCMP recourse processes and decision-making.	The degree to which RCMP final decisions concord with ERC recommendations, expressed as the % of the RCMP final decisions that fully agree, partly agree or do not agree with the recommendations.
Findings and recommendations are issued in a timely manner.	% of findings and recommendations that are issued within the service standard.
RCMP members and the public have access to current information on the issues addressed by the ERC in its reviews.	Frequency of website postings of the latest summaries of ERC findings and recommendations and of RCMP final decisions.

Program Inventory

Appeal case reviews

Supporting information on the program inventory

Financial, human resources and performance information for Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) External Review Committee (ERC)’s Program Inventory is available in GC InfoBase.

Supplementary information tables

The following supplementary information tables are available on Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) External Review Committee (ERC)’s website:

Supplementary information tables

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures. This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs as well as evaluations and GBA+ of tax expenditures.

Organizational contact information

RCMP External Review Committee
P.O. Box 1159, Station B
Ottawa, Ontario K1P 5R2
Canada

Telephone: 613-998-2134
Fax: 613-990-8969
E-mail: org@erc-cee.gc.ca

Website: https://www.canada.ca/en/rcmp-external-review-committee.html

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)

Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)

Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

core responsibility (responsabilité essentielle)

An enduring function or role performed by a department. The intentions of the department with respect to a core responsibility are reflected in one or more related departmental results that the department seeks to contribute to or influence.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)

A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a 3-year period. Departmental Plans are usually tabled in Parliament each spring.

departmental priority (priorité)

A plan or project that a department has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired departmental results.

departmental result (résultat ministériel)

A consequence or outcome that a department seeks to achieve. A departmental result is often outside departments’ immediate control, but it should be influenced by program-level outcomes.

departmental result indicator (indicateur de résultat ministériel)

A quantitative measure of progress on a departmental result.

departmental results framework (cadre ministériel des résultats)

A framework that connects the department’s core responsibilities to its departmental results and departmental result indicators.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)

A report on a department’s actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation (expérimentation)

The conducting of activities that seek to first explore, then test and compare the effects and impacts of policies and interventions in order to inform evidence-based decision-making, and improve outcomes for Canadians, by learning what works, for whom and in what circumstances. Experimentation is related to, but distinct from innovation (the trying of new things), because it involves a rigorous comparison of results. For example, using a new website to communicate with Canadians can be an innovation; systematically testing the new website against existing outreach tools or an old website to see which one leads to more engagement, is experimentation.

full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)

A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. For a particular position, the full-time equivalent figure is the ratio of number of hours the person actually works divided by the standard number of hours set out in the person’s collective agreement.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])

An analytical process used to assess how diverse groups of women, men and gender-diverse people experience policies, programs and services based on multiple factors including race ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)

For the purpose of the 2020–21 Departmental Results Report, those high-level themes outlining the government’s agenda in the 2019 Speech from the Throne, namely: Fighting climate change; Strengthening the Middle Class; Walking the road of reconciliation; Keeping Canadians safe and healthy; and Positioning Canada for success in an uncertain world.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)

An initiative where two or more federal organizations are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)

Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)

What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)

A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)

The process of communicating evidence-based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)

The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally, a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)

For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts presented in Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

program (programme)

Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

program inventory (répertoire des programmes)

Identifies all the department’s programs and describes how resources are organized to contribute to the department’s core responsibilities and results.

result (résultat)

A consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization’s influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)

Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

target (cible)

A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)

Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an appropriation act. The vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.

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Date modified:: 2022-12-02