Dennis Daley, Commissioner of the Nova Scotia RCMP, and Mike Duheme, Commissioner of the RCMP.
Julie Sicot (View profile)Julie Sicot
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The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) promises to improve the way it manages crises, but also intends to attack the management culture within the institution. These commitments were presented on Wednesday in response to the Mass Casualty Commission report on the 2020 Portapique massacre, which left 22 dead.
RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme was joined by his provincial counterpart Dennis Daley on Wednesday in Milbrook, Nova Scotia, to present a plan called “Taking Action.”
The final report of the Mass Casualty Commission, unveiled last March, contained 130 recommendations. The RCMP now estimates that it can act directly on 33 of them and that it can play an important role for 55 others.
Mike Duheme, the Commissioner of the RCMP, believes that the implementation of these recommendations will change the way the RCMP operates.
But the RCMP already warns that change of this magnitude will take time.
The RCMP presented 53 follow-up measures divided into 10 themes.
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Crisis management is the first of these themes and is the subject of 23 follow-up measures. These include the possibility of creating a national center specialized in supporting victims of terrorism or mass crimes.
For the RCMP, we also need to better understand the factors causing the massive losses. The 51-year-old man responsible for this mass killing had already been in trouble with the law, he illegally possessed firearms and was known for acts of domestic violence.
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On April 19, 2020, a shooting left 22 people dead in Portapique, Nova Scotia. (Archive photo)
This last subject is also being monitored by the authorities. The RCMP indicates that it wants to update its policies on handling these situations with a victim-centered approach. The killer's girlfriend had been considered a suspect during much of the investigation.
On governance, the institution is committed to taking a comprehensive approach to implementing recommendations from current and past external reviews.
A necessary effort to restore public confidence in the institution. The commissioner also created a committee in May 2023 called Reform, accountability and cultures. The bond of trust will be rebuilt by providing results and being transparent, according to Mike Duheme, who took up his position ten days before the Commission's report was submitted.
This new committee is responsible for following up on recommendations, whereas previously accident reports were managed by a program manager and [Mr. Duheme] found that this lacked continuity.
An interactive portal will also be deployed so that the general public can follow the progress of the measures taken.
The organization is made up of 30,000 people, changing a direction or the culture of 30,000 people can be a challenge in itself
A quote from Mike Duheme
Regarding training and recruitment, the RCMP says it is aware of the lack of diversity and is committed to recruiting more women and members of minority communities such as Indigenous people.
The RCMP is also committed to improving the way it selects and rewards its leaders.
Certain measures have already been put in place by the RCMP, such as the deployment of the On Alert system, which allows authorities to send alerts to the public via radio, television and wireless signals. thread. It was notably used during the 2022 massacre in the James Smith Cree Nation, which caused the death of 11 people.
Another measure, also deployed, is the Blue Forces Tracking system throughout Nova Scotia. I had the chance to see it in action. On a card, all our members are identified with an electronic device, explained Mike Duheme during the press briefing. There is one person in a room who can control, and tell people where to go if the officers are not familiar with the routes.
During the killing of Portapique, the lack of knowledge of the geographical area and the community by certain speakers had been highlighted.
The RCMP is giving itself until April 2025 to complete the plan that will implement these measures, but estimates that their implementation could take several years.
Several bodies are responsible for monitoring the RCMP's work on these recommendations, such as the Progress Monitoring Committee, created by the federal government and the province of Nova Scotia.
With this tragic incident that happened, if we don't learn and if we don't move, it's going to happen. happened for nothing, and that is not my intention, insisted Mike Duheme.
