ARCHIVED - RCMP External Review Committee

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page

This page has been archived.

Chair's Message

The RCMP External Review Committee (“Committee”) reviews grievance, disciplinary and discharge and demotion cases that are referred to it by the RCMP Commissioner, and provides findings and recommendations to assist the RCMP Commissioner in making decisions that are fair and well-informed.  In doing this, the Committee aims to positively influence the manner in which labour relations issues are addressed within the RCMP.

The Committee has two program activities: independent and impartial case review, and outreach and information dissemination.  In light of activities around the RCMP's governance structures, including the Report of the Standing Committee on Public Accounts and the 2007 Report of the Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP, the Committee's unique expertise is of significance.  The Committee continues to participate substantially and meaningfully in the way forward to making the RCMP a stronger, more accountable and modern organization.

The Committee's focus is always on providing timely quality case reviews.  Minimizing corporate risks and ensuring accountability and transparency in all of the Committee's work is also paramount to overall program integrity.  The priority for 2009-2010 will be to stabilize the organization and its corporate infrastructure so that it may continue to support government-wide accountability priorities.

I look forward to the challenges that lie ahead, and I am very appreciative of the commitment and enthusiasm of all of the Committee staff.

Sincerely,

Catherine Ebbs
Chair

February 2, 2009

Section I: Departmental Overview

Raison d'être

The RCMP External Review Committee (“ERC” or “Committee”) is an independent and impartial agency that aims to promote fair and equitable labour relations within the RCMP, in accordance with applicable principles of law.  To this end the Committee conducts an independent review of appeals in disciplinary, and discharge and demotion matters, as well as certain categories of grievances that are referred to it pursuant to s. 33 of the RCMP Act and s. 36 of the RCMP Regulations.

The Committee reports directly to Parliament through the Minister of Public Safety.  The Committee has a single member, the Chairperson, who is appointed by an Order in Council, and is supported by an Executive Director and a very small staff.  The ERC's jurisdiction is restricted to labour matters that relate to regular members and civilian members of the RCMP only.  Public servants employed by the RCMP have separate labour relations processes.  Given that RCMP members are non-unionized, the role of the ERC in the Force's labour/management resolution process is a crucial one.  Over the years, the RCMP has made changes in a variety of areas based on recommendations made by the ERC; these include policy changes with regard to medical discharge, suspension without pay, and harassment.

As one of two oversight/review bodies over the RCMP, the ERC plays an important role in maintaining public confidence in the RCMP and ensures that it respects the law and human rights.

Responsibilities

The ERC is within the portfolio of the Department of Public Safety whose Minister is the appropriate Minister responsible for the purposes of the Financial Administration Act.  The Committee's mandate is simply stated as the independent and impartial review of grievances and cases that involve the discipline, demotion or discharge of RCMP members.  Upon completing its review of a case, the ERC presents findings and recommendations to the Commissioner of the RCMP for a final decision.  The Commissioner is not bound by the recommendations of the ERC, but the Commissioner must provide reasons when there is disagreement with the recommendations of the ERC.  In carrying out its mandate, the ERC ensures that its recommendations are solidly grounded in law and that members of the RCMP are treated in a fair and equitable manner, in keeping with the public interest.

Strategic Outcome and Program Activity Architecture (PAA)

Strategic Outcome

The RCMP External Review Committee aims to positively influence the manner in which labour relations issues are addressed within the RCMP.

Program Activity Architecture

Planning Summary

* Two of the 8 FTE's will be funded for only 9/12th's of fiscal year 2011-12

Summary Table

Contribution of Priorities to Strategic Outcome

Risk Analysis

Risk: Temporary funding was secured in 2006-07 to help alleviate the critical backlog of cases before the ERC.  This funding envelope began to sunset in December 2008 and closes in 2011-12.  A second amount was secured in 2007-08 to accommodate and address corporate management and operational pressures.  This second funding envelope closed at the end of the 2008-09 fiscal year.  As of yet, the Committee has not secured funding required to permanently address corporate management funding pressures.  Should funding not be made available to the ERC, the ability of the Committee to respond to its priorities, such as reviewing case files and responding to requests for information will suffer, and productivity may be affected on an organization-wide level.

Analysis: Given the nature and unpredictability of the labour issues within the RCMP, the ERC has no control over the number of cases that are referred to it from year to year.  Similarly, there can be great variance in the level of complexity of the cases it receives.   Despite this, the ERC has attempted to estimate the amount of time it requires, on average, to process each type of case brought before it.  For grievances, the ERC estimates that approximately three months is required for the completion of a grievance review.  For disciplinary, and discharge and demotion cases, the time frame is approximately six months.

In recent years, the number of cases received has varied somewhat as follows:

In addition to case reviews, the ERC workload also includes significant reporting and corporate requirements that come from Central Agencies.  Given its small size and budget, these added reporting pressures have at times, contributed to delays in the case review process. 

Outreach is also an important task of the ERC staff.  This is done through the ERC website, its quarterly publication Communiqué, responses to requests for information, and ongoing training, meetings, and capacity building.  Each year, the Committee receives a number of requests for information; some of these are simple, but others can be quite complicated and time-consuming.  In 2007-08 for example, the ERC received 96 requests for information, with an average response time of four days.  Without adequate resources to respond to an increasing workload, ERC clients (the RCMP Commissioner and members) will not receive the high level of service they expect from the Committee.

Expenditure Profile

In the table below, the grey line represents the ERC's overall expenditure profile.  The dotted line represents the first funding envelope secured in 2006-07 to address the critical backlog of cases at the ERC, which began to sunset in December 2008 and closes in 2011-12.  The solid line represents the second funding envelope secured in 2007-08 to accommodate corporate management pressures, which closed at the end of the 2008-09 fiscal year.  The priority for 2009-10 will be to stabilize the organization and capacity, while continuing to deliver on the mandate of the ERC.

• Previous Page
• Table of Contents
• Next Page