A looming shakeup in how the RCMP’s federal policing wing tackles national security files can’t come fast enough for the country’s top Mountie.
“If I had a magic wand, I’d want it in place by tomorrow,” Commissioner Mike Duheme said in an interview airing soon on Rosemary Barton Live.
The RCMP deliberately designed their Coutts undercover investigation so there would be no corroborating voice recordings of statements purportedly made by accused persons.
The decision to not record conversations violated the 'best evidence rule' – as did the decision to make… https://t.co/iR2vKA5brt
— DonaldBest.CA * DO NOT COMPLY (@DonaldBestCA) June 13, 2024
The image of an RCMP officer wearing the traditional red serge is arguably the most iconic and recognized symbol of Canada worldwide. Hollywood and authors created heroic characters from Mounties and coined the phrase, “The Mountie always gets his man!”
Now, as the RCMP enters its 151st year as a force, the stories tell a different tale. Canadians are observing a police force in decline that’s dealing with issues of low officer morale, allegations of federal political interference, and declining public trust. Where it was once difficult to wade through the many applicants to become an RCMP officer, the force is now suffering from a recruitment crisis so dire that it may even be forced to cut its famous Musical Ride.
An RCMP review of the federal police response to the 2022 Freedom Convoy reveals that officers were uncomfortable with the unprecedented invocation of the Emergencies Act and felt immense pressure from government officials.
The report titled, “National After-Action Review into the RCMP’s response to the 2022 Freedom Convoy,” was made public last week.
RCMP boss expresses desire for new law to deal with threats against politicians
OTTAWA – RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme says he wants the government to look at drafting a new law that would make it easier for police to pursue charges against people who threaten elected officials.
The Mounties are seeing an increase in invective directed at politicians, including comments from the same individuals on multiple occasions, Duheme said in an interview.
However, often the behaviour does not meet the Criminal Code threshold for laying a charge of uttering threats.
This clown needs to go.
The RCMP’s federal wing is at a “critical juncture” and its ability to police key files like foreign interference, terrorism and financial crime is on the line, says a recent report from the Mounties’ independent advisory board.
After studying the sustainability of federal policing for more than a year, a task force set up by the external Management Advisory Board drafted a report that says the RCMP must change to survive — and the federal government needs to step up to protect Canadians’ safety.
Politicians never take away your rights and freedoms without offering a pretext. Throughout history, tyrants have always justified their human rights abuses by appealing to the “public interest,” the “common good,” or some grand goal or vision.
Goals used by tyrants include national security, building a workers’ paradise, fighting communism, fighting fascism, fighting a virus, fighting terrorism, or restoring a nation’s honour, dignity, and rightful place among competing nations.
Former Mountie William Majcher has made a career out of deception and dancing on the edge of danger. As a young officer, he nearly died after being jumped from behind and smashed repeatedly in the head with a steel bar. After transitioning into undercover work, Majcher was planted in the same cell as an Air India terror suspect. He infiltrated the Medellin drug cartel and was warned he was on a hit list after a $100,000 bounty was put on his head.
His subterfuge maximized his easy-going demeanour and commerce degree from St. Mary’s University, allowing him to pose as a clean cut expert in money laundering. This work in the shadows came in handy when he was tasked to run the B.C. office of the RCMP’s financial crime unit before retiring in 2007.
The RCMP’s official motto is “Maintiens le Droit” or “Maintain the Right.” However, the common belief was that it was “We Will Get Our Man.” At least that was the slogan that was used in countless newspaper articles, novels, and movies that enchanted us all in an earlier time. The “Mounties” were incredibly popular not only in Canada, but throughout the Western world. Movies, such as the 1936 classic “Rose Marie” starring Nelson Eddy and Jeannette MacDonald, captured the imagination of millions.
In a forecasting report meant to prepare the police force for the future, the RCMP notes a degradation of living conditions in Canada could lead to increased “popular resentment.”
“The coming period of recession will accelerate the decline in living standards that the younger generations have already witnessed compared to earlier generations,” says the report “Whole-of-Government Five-Year Trends for Canada.”
Two Chinese community organizations are suing the RCMP for defamation after the national police force alleged they were operating as “police stations” for the Chinese government.
The Chinese Family Services of Greater Montreal and Centre Sino-Québec de la Rive Sud, as well as the two centres’ executive director, Xixi Li, are seeking more than $4.9 million in damages, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in Superior Court.
Rebel News and one of its media personalities, David Menzies, are taking the RCMP to court, accusing the federal police force of engaging “in a pattern of intimidation and exclusion.”
The lawsuit, which is also directed at the York Regional Police and the Attorney General of Canada, stems from Menzies’s high-profile arrest in January.
OTTAWA — The RCMP did not interview Prime Minister Justin Trudeau before concluding that there was insufficient evidence to substantiate a criminal offence in the SNC-Lavalin scandal, top officials confirmed in a House of Commons committee hearing on Tuesday.
The head of the RCMP says the national police force is vulnerable to leaks — a warning that comes as multiple people with ties to the RCMP face charges or have been convicted already.
“If you think that we can ensure that everything in the organization never leaks out, we’re vulnerable to that, we’re aware of it,” Commissioner Mike Duheme said Wednesday.
“We have measures when we recruit people, we have robust measures, but as people progress, sometimes they make different decisions that sometimes come back to harm them, and we address them.”
An Alberta front-line RCMP officer has been arrested and charged in what the police force calls a national security investigation involving allegations of aiding a foreign actor.
In a statement Tuesday, the force alleged the individual “accessed non-Top Secret RCMP records systems in order to assist a foreign actor.”
