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Chair’s Message

The RCMP External Review Committee (ERC) made significant changes to its operations as a result of a proposed statutory revision to its enabling legislation.  On June 17, 2010 the government sponsored a bill entitled An Act to enact the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Labour Relations Modernization Act and to amend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts (Bill C-43).  In part, the Bill proposes the repeal of all references to the ERC in the statute on a date to be determined.

At the time of writing this Report, Bill C-43 is being debated in Parliament at second reading.  Until the Bill is passed, the ERC continues to discharge its legislative obligations:  issuing findings and recommendations to the Commissioner of the RCMP; fulfilling the reporting demands of central agencies; and issuing its annual report to Parliament through the Minister of Public Safety.

The ERC’s plans and priorities for the future reflect a degree of uncertainty precipitated by the undetermined timing and nature of several possible eventualities.  I am deeply grateful to the dedicated staff of the ERC who remain committed to serving Canadians by keeping in sight the ERC’s Raison d’être and pursuing its Strategic Objective outlined herein.

Sincerely,


The original version was signed by
Catherine Ebbs
Chair

January 28, 2011





Section I: Departmental Overview

Raison d’être and Responsibilities

The RCMP External Review Committee (ERC) 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 ERC 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 ERC reports directly to Parliament through the Minister of Public Safety. The ERC has one sole member, the Chair, 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 employment and 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. 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.

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.

The ERC is within the Public Safety portfolio whose Minister is the appropriate Minister under the Financial Administration Act. The ERC’s mandate is simply put: the independent and impartial review of grievances as well as appeals that involve the discipline, discharge and demotion 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)


Program Activity Architecture
Title Description
SO - Strategic Outcome Independent, impartial and thorough analysis, findings and recommendations for transparency in Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) grievances and appeals.
PA-1- Independent and impartial case review The ERC 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 by the Commissioner of the RCMP pursuant to s. 33 of the RCMP Act and s. 36 of the RCMP Regulations.  The ERC ensures that the principles of administrative and labour law are respected and that the remedial approach indicated by the Act is followed.  The ERC issues reports of its findings and recommendations in each case to the Commissioner of theRCMP and to the parties.  Access to the ERC’s reports is made available to all stakeholders (including the parties, RCMP adjudicators, supervisors, members’ representatives, staff relations representatives, and labour and employment experts in other jurisdictions) by means of its website, publications and presentations.
Internal Services

Internal Services

In fiscal year 2009-10, the Program Activity ‘Internal Services’ was appended to the ERC’s PAA.  As a result of its experience in attempting to meet the reporting requirements, the ERC determined that its uniquely small size made the reporting of this Program Activity particularly inaccurate.  The related expenditures could not be reliably apportioned between program activities without an inordinate expenditure of resources.  The Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat (TBS) agreed with the ERC’s assertion.  It granted the ERC an exemption from reporting on financial commitments to Internal Services as a separate Program Activity until the end of the 2010-11 fiscal year.  The ERC’s circumstances remain unchanged and given the state of flux it is currently experiencing, it has sought a second two-year exemption.  While the exemption has not been confirmed, this report will present information indicating that the ERC has a single, distinct program activity.


PAA Crosswalk

The ERC required amendments to its previously approved SO and PAA following a review of the first three years after the initial implementation of the ERC’s PAA.  The changes reflect recommendations made by TBS’s Performance Measurement Framework (PMF) and have been encouraged by TBS through its Management Accountability Framework Round VII assessment. Therefore, the ERC amended its PAA in 2010 which the Treasury Board considered and approved in August 2010.  The nature of the changes is considered to be major as they resulted in the merging of its previous two program activities.  Consequently, the PMF was also revised.  The table below indicates how those changes relate to the previous year.

2010-11 2011-12
SO - The RCMP External Review Committee aims to positively influence the manner in which labour relations issues are addressed within the RCMP. SO - Independent, impartial and thorough analysis, findings and recommendations for transparency in Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) grievances and appeals
PA-1- Independent and impartial case review PA-1- Independent and impartial case review
PA-2- Outreach and information dissemination Element deleted
Internal Services


Planning Summary


Financial Resources ($ thousands)
2011-12 2012-13 2013-14
1,469 941 941


Human Resources (FTE)
2011-12 2012-13 2013-14
8 6 6


Planning Summary Table


Strategic Outcome:  Independent, impartial and thorough analysis, findings and recommendations for transparency in Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) grievances and appeals.
Performance Indicator Target
Proportion of stakeholders who believe that the ERC is independent, impartial and brings transparency in the RCMP grievance and appeal processes. 90%
Program Activity Forecast Spending
2010-11
($thousands)
Planned Spending
($thousands)
Alignment to Government of Canada Outcomes
2011-12 2012-13 2013-14
Independent and impartial case review 1,449 1,469 941 941 Well-managed and efficient government operations
Outreach and information dissemination 362 0 0 0
Total Planned Spending 1,811 1,469 941 941


Internal Services *
Internal Services Forecast Spending
2010-11
($thousands)
Planned Spending
($thousands)
2011-12 2012-13 2013-14
  0 0 0 0

*  The ERC has sought to continue its exemption from reporting separately on Internal Services expenditures.


Contribution of Priorities to Strategic Outcome


Operational  Priorities Type Link to Strategic Outcome Description
1. Continue to deliver on statutory mandate Ongoing Independent, impartial and thorough analysis, findings and recommendations for transparency in RCMP grievances and appeals. Why is this a priority?
1. Contributes to the ERC’s overriding priority to review cases and make sound recommendations to the RCMP Commissioner in an expeditious manner.
Plans for meeting the priority:
·  Longer-term strategic planning and streamlining of processes is planned for the future to continue to improve on service delivery.
2. Raise awareness through Outreach Ongoing Independent, impartial and thorough analysis, findings and recommendations for transparency in RCMP grievances and appeals. Why is this a priority?
2. Educational role the ERC plays contributes in a proactive way to a better understanding of grievance administration and discipline, and discharge and demotion appeals.
Plans for meeting the priority:
·  Provides key stakeholders with information on process, findings and recommendations of the ERC;
·  Provides training where possible on labour relations; and,
·  Engages the RCMP to further develop its governance framework.
Management  Priorities Type Link to Strategic Outcome Description
3. Continue to invest in our people Ongoing Independent, impartial and thorough analysis, findings and recommendations for transparency in RCMP grievances and appeals. Why is this a priority?
3. ERC places a priority on integrating the vision and intent of Public Service Renewal into its day-to-day activities.
Plans for meeting the priority:
·  Provides time and resources towards training and education that enhance existing skills and contribute toward current capacity building, and longer term career objectives of staff.
4. Continue to improve on the corporate management framework and infrastructure Ongoing Independent, impartial and thorough analysis, findings and recommendations for transparency in RCMP grievances and appeals. Why is this a priority?
4. ERC remains committed to meeting government-wide management and accountability priorities.
Plans for meeting the priority:
·  Stabilize corporate management framework and infrastructure based on available resources; and,
·  Continue to develop MOUs for IM/IT, HR, and transactional financial support.


Risk Analysis

The ERC has followed its established operational plans pursuant to its approved funding from the Treasury Board for the consolidation of its office space and limited additional temporary staffing.  On June 17, 2010 the government sponsored a bill entitled An Act to enact the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Labour Relations Modernization Act and to amend the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act and to make consequential amendments to other Acts (Bill C-43).  Bill C-43 proposed a number of changes including the dissolution of the RCMP External Review Committee.  As a result of this Bill’s proposal, the administration of the ERC reviewed several of its plans mid-year and monitored the progress of the Bill to review and alter long-term planning decisions.

As of the date of this report, Bill C-43 was in the midst of debate during second reading.  Parliament adjourned for the winter recess before the debate was concluded and before a vote was conducted to refer it to a parliamentary committee.  As a result, the ERC would incur actual expenditures significantly lower than the planned expenditures.  A sizeable lapse is expected to be realized.

Temporary funding was secured in 2006-07 from the Treasury Board Management Reserve to help alleviate a critical backlog of cases.  This funding envelope closes in 2011-12.  A second amount was secured from the Management Reserve in 2007-08 to accommodate and address corporate management pressures.  This second funding envelope closed at the end of the 2008 calendar year.  A third temporary funding envelope was secured starting in 2009-10.  It is also due to close in 2011-12.  The challenges related to the volume of pending cases and the time necessary to review them would have continued past 2012.  The amendments to the RCMP Act proposed by Bill C-43 would eliminate external review in these pending cases.  The unforeseeable consequences of the Bill lead the ERC to continue its pursuit of adequate future funding to keep current its caseload on an ongoing basis.  Should the tenuous nature of the ERC’s status result in a reduction in staff, the ability of the ERC to continue its operations will be seriously compromised.  Should the legislative process become protracted and additional funding not be available, the ability of the ERC to respond to its main priorities will suffer and productivity may be affected on an organization-wide level.

In addition to case reviews, the ERC workload also includes significant reporting and corporate requirements that come primarily from Central Agencies.  Given its small size and budget, the ERC is unable to employ staff with expertise in the variety of required reports, solely tasked to these activities.  Therefore the ERC frequently re-assigns operational staff to work on unrelated corporate reports.  These added reporting pressures have at times, contributed to delays in the case review process.

 

Expenditure Profile

In the following table, the grey line represents the ERC’s overall expenditure profile.  The dotted black line represents the first Management Reserve funding envelope secured in 2006-07 to address the critical backlog of cases at the ERC, which closes in 2011-12.  The black line represents the second funding envelope from the Treasury Board Management Reserve secured in 2007-08 to accommodate corporate management pressures, which closed at the end of the 2008 calendar year.  The dotted grey line represents the third temporary funding envelope approved in the 2009-10 fiscal year, which also closes in 2011-12.  The ERC had been seeking to secure permanent funding for 2012-13 onwards to accommodate the continuing effort on the part of the ERC to stay current with the rate of cases referred to the ERC and to further reduce the waiting time.  These efforts have been curtailed pending the outcome of Bill C-43.

Expenditure Profile - Spending trend
Description

 

Estimates by Vote

For information on ERC’s organizational votes and/or statutory expenditures, please see the 2011–12 Main Estimates publication. An electronic version of the Main Estimates is available at
http://www.tbs-sct.gc.ca/est-pre/2011-2012/me-bpd/info/info-eng.asp