(Ottawa) The finding is scathing: the federal police “do not and cannot function as effectively as they must to protect Canada and Canadians against the most significant threats to national security and crime.”
This conclusion is drawn from a report produced by the Committee of Parliamentarians on National Security and Intelligence, which decided to examine the mandate of the federal police five years ago.
Serious shortcomings were noted in several chapters.
Governance is “weak”. Priorities for activities and investigations are poorly established. The data is of “poor quality”, and is poorly managed.
And that’s without taking into account that the coexistence of the contractual police – the one which serves eight provinces – and that of the federal police – the one which carries out the most difficult investigations – has “undesirable” effects, we say.
By monopolizing 60% of the RCMP personnel budget, the first has a clear preponderance over the second, which makes do with 18%.
“The human resource needs of the contract police take precedence over those of the federal police; therefore, the rate of vacant positions is higher in the federal police,” we write.
In an era of growing violent extremism, transnational crime, financial crime, foreign interference, espionage and cybercrime, the distribution of resources seems inadequate.
Hence the conclusion that the difficulties plaguing the federal police “undermine its ability to fulfill its role in the national security and intelligence apparatus,” the report reads.
The government must therefore “act to remedy the situation,” insists the committee.
In particular, it should “establish that the federal police, an exclusive responsibility of the federal government, is a priority and that reform is necessary.”
A reform is indeed underway at the RCMP in order to modernize this division that the new commissioner, Mike Duheme, calls the “FBI of the North”.
Because in “all parliamentary committees”, it is not a question of the gendarmerie, but of “interference, borders, cybercrime, etc.”. », he said to The Press a few weeks ago.
Same story therefore, with this 115-page report made public Tuesday by the Committee of Parliamentarians on National Security and Intelligence.
The committee in question is made up of deputies and senators who have a Top Secret security clearance and who are bound to secrecy in perpetuity under the Information Protection Act.