RCMP Killers of Robert Dziekanski

-->Ian Mulgrew's proposals that the gang of four who killed Mr. Dziekanski should face criminal prosecution, while the lawyer who pulled the plug on the Braidwood Inquiry and her associates should face censure from the Law Society are both reasonable: however, it appears that the latest revelations of corruption and coverup in the national police force provide justification for several steps further in an attempt to bring our principal law enforcement agency back under control. Appointing a special prosecutor to conduct further months of enquiry and court proceedings in order to establish a measure of accountability in this specific instance may be necessary and proper, but it will not address the fundamental problem of corruption in the RCMP. This once proud symbol of the rule of law in our land has grown from its origins as the Northwest Mounted Police into a bureaucratic monster populated by a self-styled elite who consider themselves above the law.

The appointment of a civilian as Commissioner (should that have been Commissar?) had merit in that there was some hope of ending the chain of ever more self-serving and arrogant top law enforcers being promoted internally. However, rather than weed out the rot, Commissioner Elliott seems intent on protecting his minions and perpetrating the coverups that are ingrained in the culture of the force. With his latest “oversight” comment regarding the withholding of evidence he confirms that there is no hope of recovery for an organization in which bullying and deception are endemic.

While the background cannot be considered comparable, it is not unreasonable to draw some comparison between the conduct of the RCMP in the Dziekanski affair and that of the Canadian Armed Forces in the Somalia affair of the Canadian Airborne Regiment. In both instances unarmed civilians deemed a threat were killed by a group of bullies abusing their superior force. The troops in Somalia were operating in an extremely stressful, hostile, foreign environment, while the policemen were in familiar surroundings where the only potential threat was the demeanor of a single individual whom any one of the officers should have been capable of subduing peaceably. The consequences for the soldiers were dire; for the army no less so, in that the Airborne Regiment was disbanded, and the associated damage to the Canadian military's reputation and morale still lingers.

The loss of confidence the RCMP has incurred demands no less a response: the force should be reduced to its ceremonial and federal functions, while the provinces and territories establish their own forces fully accountable to their jurisdictions as in Ontario and Quebec. Such a radical change in structure would provide ample opportunity for the continuation of employment for the many honest, dedicated and upright individuals who are getting progressively more demoralized within the existing structure of the RCMP, while also allowing the new entities to weed out the unacceptable and dubious elements that are entrenched within the current force.