Current Problems

Justice (25-42)

Spying on Indigenous activists

February 8, 2022

Chairperson of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police press release:
In 2021, the CRCC’s findings and recommendations led the RCMP to take significant remedial steps, including:

  • Updating policies and procedures for response to mental health crises and wellness checks (summary numbers 21-282, 21-283).
  • Creating a national sexual assault investigation course, making changes to national policy surrounding sexual assault investigations, and creating a best practices guide (summary number 21-059).
  • Revising the policy on strip searches to ensure that strip searches are conducted in private and are not live-monitored and providing additional training to RCMP members to address the improper strip search of an Indigenous woman (summary numbers 21-279, 21-281).
  • Changing policy concerning prisoner care and handling, such as the provision of adequate meals, blankets and mattresses, access to showers, reasonable medical attention and access to medications (summary numbers 21-035, 21-236, 21-281, 21-285, 21-278, 21-038).
  • Revising its definition of “street check” to align with the RCMP’s community policing philosophy and bias-free policing policy and implementing a policy for the collection, analysis and reporting of data from police interactions with racialized and Indigenous peoples (systemic investigation).
  • Creating an updated guard training course to improve the training of RCMP jail guards (summary numbers 21-236, 21-278).
  • Making changes to the police service dog policies and training (public interest investigation and summary number 21-242).
  • Reviewing its policies relative to ensuring welfare of children whose parents or caregivers are arrested or otherwise indisposed (summary numbers 21-088, 21-140).
  • Creating a new public complaint investigator and Commissioner’s delegate training course (Chairperson’s complaint and public interest investigation).
  • Changing RCMP policies and forms, and the National Public Complaints Guidebook to address concerns noted by the CRCC (Chairperson’s complaint and public interest investigation).
  • Conducting a management review of a detachment and instituting measures to prevent racist conduct (summary number 21-277).

Of particular note, the RCMP Commissioner accepted almost all of the CRCC’s findings, including the finding relating to the discriminatory treatment of Ms. Baptiste following the completion of my Chair-initiated complaint and public interest investigation related to the conduct of RCMP members involved in the investigation of the death of Colten Boushie.