'Impervious to change': doubt, disappointment after initial RCMP response to inquiry recommendations
Thursday, the interim commissioner of the RCMP, Michael Duheme, admitted he had not read the Mass Casualty Commission’s final recommendations for the force.
Now, that admission is triggering doubts, among family members of those killed in the April 2020 tragedy, that the RCMP is capable of undergoing the significant culture change recommended in the inquiry’s final report.
Ryan Farrington, whose mother Dawn Madsen and stepfather Frank Gulenchyn were murdered in their Portapique home, is disappointed, but not shocked.
“I wasn't surprised,” he says. “I don't think anything's ever going to change with the way the RCMP are. I [doubt] their structure is going to change. I don’t think their attitude towards the way they work is going to change.”
Without funding from the commission to make up for lost time at work, Farrington says he was unable to travel from his home in Ontario to Nova Scotia for the report’s release.
But even without time off, he adds, he still took time to read what he could of the 3,000-page document.
He says the RCMP needs to show families the recommendations are being taken seriously.
“They need to buckle down and do this, I mean, it's 2023,” says Farrington. “The RCMP are way back in time, still. And they need to catch up with modern policing.”
“Taking a cursory search, would have been better than saying, ‘I haven't looked at it,’” says retired RCMP officer Sherry Benson-Podolchuk.
Benson-Podolchuk has spoken out about the toxic workplace culture she experienced with the RCMP -- an issue also mentioned in the inquiry’s report.
She believes any meaningful transformation of the force must start at the training level, and adds leadership plays a role in changing the attitudes of individuals in the organization.
“If you don't admit you make mistakes, if you don't hold people accountable and make amends to try and prove things for the next time, then you lose all credibility and trust with the very people we are trying to serve and protect,” says Benson-Podolchuk.
St. Thomas University criminologist Michael Boudreau hopes change can happen for the families and those affected by the mass shooting, but he’s pessimistic.
“The current structure of the RCMP and its upper echelons is impervious to change,” he says. “It’s a big ask, and at this stage, unfortunately, I think it’s nearly impossible.”
Boudreau says it will take strong political will from both the federal and provincial governments to trigger any meaningful reforms.
He says that’s why Ottawa’s choice for the next RCMP commissioner is also crucial moving forward.
“If the wrong person is chosen, a person who is steeped in the RCMP culture, then change will not happen, and it has to be systemic change,” says Boudreau. “So that's why it's so very important that the federal government get this appointment right.”
In an interview with CTV Atlantic Thursday, Nova Scotia RCMP Commissioner Dennis Daley pointed out changes the force has made since the tragedy.
But Farrington says there’s much more work to be done.
“They’ve implemented the AlertReady system, but it took 22 people killed to make that happen,” he says. “The last thing I want to see is this happen again.”
“Hopefully I’m wrong, and they implement the recommendations that this commission has come out with,” he adds. “We’ll have to wait and see if they do.”
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Parliamentary report on Emergencies Act decision is 18 months past due — and counting
The erstwhile group of senators and MPs studying the federal government's invocation of the Emergencies Act over the "Freedom Convoy" was supposed to present its findings in December. December of 2022, that is.
Grandparents killed in wrong-way crash on Hwy. 401 identified
A 60-year-old man and a 55-year-old woman killed in a wrong-way crash on Highway 401 earlier this week have been identified by the Consulate General of India in Toronto.
The kids from 'Mrs. Doubtfire are all SUPER grown up now, and we're not OK
The adorable trio of child actors from the 1993 classic comedy 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' which starred the late and great Robin Williams, are all grown up and looking back on their seminal time together.
Quebec man who threatened Trudeau, Legault online sentenced to 20 months in jail
A Quebec man who pleaded guilty to threatening Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Premier François Legault has been sentenced to 20 months in jail.
Drone footage shows Ukrainian village battered to ruins as residents flee Russian advance
The Ukrainian village of Ocheretyne has been battered by fighting, drone footage obtained by The Associated Press shows. The village has been a target for Russian forces in the Donetsk region of eastern Ukraine.
Bystander livestreams during Charlotte standoff show an ever-growing appetite for social media video
Saing Chhoeun was locked out of his Charlotte, N.C., home on Monday as law enforcement with high-powered rifles descended into his yard and garage, using a car as a shield as they were met with a shower of gunfire from the direction of his neighbor's house.
Britney Spears 'home and safe' after paramedics responded to an incident at the Chateau Marmont, source tells CNN
A source close to singer Britney Spears tells CNN that the pop star is 'home and safe' after she had a 'major fight' with her boyfriend on Wednesday night at the Chateau Marmont in West Hollywood.
Israel has briefed U.S. on plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of potential Rafah operation
Israel this week briefed Biden administration officials on a plan to evacuate Palestinian civilians ahead of a potential operation in the southern Gaza city of Rafah aimed at rooting out Hamas militants, according to U.S. officials familiar with the talks.
TD worst-case scenario more likely after drug money laundering allegations: analyst
TD Bank Group could be hit with more severe penalties than previously expected, says a banking analyst after a report that the investigation it faces in the U.S. is tied to laundering illicit fentanyl profits.