Departmental Results Report 2018-19

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

The ERC's budgetary planning trend has been relatively consistent for the last several years. The base budget has been augmented through approvals of annual temporary funding representing a significant proportion of actual expenditures. In the Fall of fiscal year 2017-18 the ERC received temporary funding approval extending through 2020-21.

The actual expenditures amounts have remained generally consistent over the years. The increase in temporary funding in the Fall of 2017-18 enabled ERC to plan for additional expenses to support program integrity. The ERC continues to work with the portfolio department and central agencies to address its permanent funding requirements.

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

With the additional temporary funding approval in late Fall 2017, the ERC revised its complement of FTEs for 2018-19 to 17, however, due to delay in staffing actions and departures its actual FTE complement for 2018-19 was 9.72. At year end, 14 positions were resourced in the ERC.

The ERC in 2019-20 plans to hire additional staff to increase its FTE complement to 19 to deliver its case review program. Staffing actions were launched in 2017-18 and the ERC has already hired four (4) additional resources in 2019-20 following these staffing actions.

For information on the RCMP External Review Committee's organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2018–2019.

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

The RCMP External Review Committee's financial statements (unaudited) for the year ended March 31, 2019, are available on the RCMP External Review Committee's website.

The ERC's total expenses in 2018-19 increased by $1,058,959 compared to an increase of $87,425 in 2017-18 for actual results. The increase in expenses in 2018-19 is primarily due to operating expenses mainly due to increases in salary, accommodation, communication, equipment and travel spending.

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

The ERC's total liabilities increased by $349,898 in 2018-19 compared to 2017-18. This is mainly due to an increase in Vacation Pay and compensatory leave liability.

Appropriate minister: The Honourable Ralph Goodale, P.C., M.P.

Institutional head: Charles Randall Smith, Chairperson

Ministerial portfolio: Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Enabling instrument: Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, R.S.C 185, c. R-10

Year of incorporation / commencement: 1986

The ERC's Strategic Outcome and Program Alignment Architecture of record for 2018–19 are shown below.

1. Strategic Outcome: Fair and transparent labour relations decision-making that reinforces accountability

1.1 Program: Appeal case reviews

Internal Services

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

Raison d'être

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) External Review Committee (ERC) contributes to fair and equitable labour relations and accountability within the RCMP through its independent and impartial review of appeal case files. The ERC issues findings and recommendations to the Commissioner of the RCMP for final decisions to be made in appeals regarding critically important matters (e.g. appeals of decisions in harassment complaints, and of decisions to dismiss or demote an RCMP member for contravention of the RCMP Code of Conduct, to stop a member's pay and allowances when a member has been suspended from duty or to discharge a member for poor performance). The RCMP is required to refer appeal case files to the ERC for its review, findings and recommendations pursuant to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Regulations.

Mandate and role

The ERC plays a crucial role in certain RCMP employment and labour relations matters through its independent reviews, findings and recommendations for final decisions in appeal cases. As a quasi-judicial tribunal, the ERC applies the rule of law and supports transparency, fairness and impartiality in RCMP processes and decision-making. The ERC is the only independent review mechanism available to RCMP members for the cases that are referred to it, other than the courts.

Once the ERC has reviewed a case, it issues findings and recommendations to the Commissioner of the RCMP for a final decision. The Commissioner (or a delegate) is not bound to follow the recommendations of the ERC but the Commissioner must provide reasons in writing if the recommendations of the ERC are not followed.

In discharging its reviews of referred files, the ERC's work also supports management and organizational performance in the RCMP more broadly. By helping to ensure that applicable law and human rights are respected in the Force's workplace practices, the ERC plays a role in maintaining public confidence in the RCMP and in reinforcing a culture of professional responsibility and accountability.

The ERC Chair reports to Parliament annually on the activities of the ERC and its recommendations, through the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness.

For more general information about the ERC, see the "Supplementary information" section of this report.

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

Information on operating context and key risks is available on the RCMP External Review Committee's website.

The current legislation governing the work of the ERC came into force in late 2014 (with amendments to the RCMP Act and the RCMP Regulations). The ERC has been concurrently managing case file referrals under both the current legislation and the former legacy legislation since that time (with legacy referrals expected for approximately four more years). The numbers of referrals to the ERC combined is now more than two times the historical rate of 35 files per year. Further increases in the number of files referred to the ERC in future years are expected based on recent trends and assessment.

Additional resources totaling $8.1M over four years, beginning in 2017-18 and through 2020-21, have been approved for the ERC. Plans are being implemented to hire additional legal counsel and other staff for program operations. The additional resources are essential for the ERC to effectively deliver its case review program and to begin to address its backlog of cases awaiting review. As funding is temporary, only fixed term appointments or secondments of additional staff can be used and for the funding period only. There is a strong risk of an inability to adequately increase the ERC's case review capacity to meet current and projected operational pressures. The ERC will continue to actively monitor trends in the numbers and kinds of cases referred from the RCMP to plan proactively to meet future operational requirements.

The growing backlog of files awaiting review has led to significantly increased wait times for the ERC to initiate and complete its case reviews. A reasonable measure of timeliness in completing case reviews is essential if the ERC's findings and recommendations are to have value to RCMP members and to the RCMP. The delay between the ERC's receipt of a file from the RCMP and the ERC's issuance of findings and recommendations averaged two years for legacy files until recently. That delay has now increased to four years or more for a file received at the ERC today. For current legislation files received at the ERC, delays have increased from several months initially to approximately two years for most files that are received today. This poses a serious risk to the utility and relevance of the ERC's findings and recommendations; for the individual RCMP members and managers implicated in, or affected by, each case, and for the Force as an organization.

The ERC continues implementing the program integrity funding that was approved in Fall of 2017 in order to mitigate this risk. Nonetheless, given current operational pressures and projected workloads, setting ERC funding levels (base and incremental) at appropriate levels for the longer term remains an important objective, and a serious risk factor, for the ERC's program. The ERC will continue to work with the portfolio department and central agencies regarding ERC requirements.

A key challenge and focus for the ERC remains over the next several years is to continue to hire, integrate and retain expert staff in order to increase its case review capacity and to maintain that capacity at significantly enhanced levels. As the ERC is only able to offer limited duration term appointments or secondments, it may be relatively difficult to attract and retain staff.

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 available in the GC InfoBase.

The following supplementary information tables are available on the RCMP External Review Committee's website:

• Departmental Sustainable Development Strategy – low-carbon government

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. The tax measures presented in this report are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

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
Web: http://www.erc-cee.gc.ca