Experts agree with the authors of the recent Mass Casualty Commission report that the time has come for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to rethink its military training methods.
The commissioners, who examined the events surrounding the tragedy that claimed the lives of 22 people in 2020 in Nova Scotia, made a recommendation to this effect. They say the RCMP Academy in Regina reinforces the police force’s outdated paramilitary culture, which undermines its efforts to connect with communities.
Scott Blandford, a public safety expert from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, believes that this type of training does not lead to strong critical thinking and favors the maintenance of a bureaucratic system.
The Mass Casualty Commission report recommends changing the way RCMP officers are trained.
For 140 years, RCMP cadets have passed through Depot Division in Regina, Saskatchewan. But the report recommends ending the Depot Division model by 2032, replacing it with a three-year police degree.
According to the Commission, a higher level of education would better prepare recruits for “an increasingly complex social, legal and technological work environment”.
The Depot Division welcomes an average of 1,200 cadets per year, for a period of six months each. The recruits then go to the field, where they spend another six months in training.
The report notes that the Depot Division has historically recruited “very young men and women.” The minimum age is 19 years old.
“Too many aspects of Depot Division training reinforce an outdated paramilitary cultural tradition,” argued retired sociology professor Chris Murphy and former RCMP assistant commissioner Cal Corey, both commission members. of investigation.
“It was basically a military training camp […] where everything was designed to develop the culture of the RCMP, marching and discipline,” adds Scott Blandford, himself a former police officer who had chosen to attend the provincial police college in Ontario.
He says he often saw charges thrown out because an officer was unable to defend the evidence he presented.
“University or a post-secondary education provides strong writing skills, not a police college. This is not their strong point, ”underlines Professor Blandford.
This is not the first time that RCMP training has been called into question.
In November 2020, in a report entitled “Shattered Dreams, Shattered Lives” on sexual harassment within the RCMP, Michel Bastarache, a former Supreme Court of Canada justice, already pointed out that the current training contributed to the toxic culture in place.
“From what I’ve been told, training at Depot Division is about tearing down a cadet and building her up to fit the mold of the RCMP,” Mr. Bastarache wrote.
He had noted “a significant number of sexualized behaviors, drinking and abusive relationships between instructors and cadets”.
He, too, felt that the training contributed to the toxic environment within the RCMP. “I think it’s time to review the training approach given to them at Depot Division and determine if it is appropriate in the modern police context,” Mr. Bastarache recommended.
Since 2020, the RCMP says it has been engaged in a process to establish a “healthy, diverse and professional” workforce.
In a press release issued in March, the RCMP announced the establishment of a team to study the report and its recommendations “to guide our action plan and update the public on our progress.”
However, Saskatchewan politicians, while recognizing the need for better police training, are very reluctant to see the school closed. The latter, which has existed for nearly 140 years, has strong repercussions on the region, particularly in terms of jobs and tourism.
Earlier in April, elected members of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly passed a resolution opposing the closure of the Depot Division.
While acknowledging the School’s importance to the local economy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to commit to keeping it open.
Mr. Blandford said that a colleague for police studies could be established in Regina using the facilities of the current School.
“Thus, we are not completely closing the school. We adapt simply by changing our mandate. »
The Commission recommended that one campus be located in Atlantic Canada and the other in a northern region.