Status of Women Committee on Feb. 28th, 2013

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

You have one minute.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

In general, I suspect that women are possibly a little freer expressing their feelings, and have the ability to do so.

This is obviously a generalization, but men may not feel quite as comfortable talking about how they feel in response to a certain situation. I would imagine that it's very difficult for an organization like the RCMP, with such a highly structured chain of command, to put these two things together. But I do commend you for obviously doing such a great job at it.

I wanted to ask a question about the mentorship programs as well that were mentioned.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Mrs. Ambler, unfortunately your time is up.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

That's okay

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

I added 30 seconds to your time. You have now reached the end of your five minutes.

[Stella Ambler, Conservative, Mississauga South, ON]

That's okay.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

As there is still some time left, I am sure that one of your colleagues will be able to ask that question for you.

We now move to Mrs. Sellah. You have five minutes.

[Djaouida Sellah, NDP, Saint-Bruno—Saint-Hubert, QC]

Thank you, Madam Chair.

My thanks to the witnesses for taking part in this videoconference and for enlightening us on what is happening in British Columbia.

Bill C-42 has no independent process for investigations, but it gives the commissioner the power to investigate.

The E Division report recommends establishing an independent system for the process. Can you explain to us what the impact of an independent system is, please?

I will give the rest of my time to my colleague Niki.

Mr. Callens, did you understand my question?

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

Yes, thank you very much.

I think a number of recommendations were made during the course of the gender-based harassment consultations that have been included and responded to appropriately through our respectful workplace action plan. The ability to bring in external workplace conflict practitioners to assist in the training and the response to workplace conflict and harassment in our division will go a long way to addressing some of the concerns that were raised by our employees in this province.

C-42 and the interface with government on the sufficiency of that bill rests with the commissioner and his senior staff in national headquarters. From my perspective it will streamline and provide mechanisms through which the commissioner can ensure a much more fulsome and timely response to harassment in our organization.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Thank you very much for that.

We note that Mr. McPhail mentioned on Tuesday that independence is key to credibility, so bolstering an independent avenue for complaints is certainly something that we on this side hope will be considered and implemented.

I represent northern Manitoba, an area that is serviced by the RCMP. I've had the pleasure of working with many great RCMP officers across our region. I know a lot of the recruitment they do is with young aboriginal people and increasingly with young aboriginal women. When we look at the case of B.C., however, the recent Human Rights Watch report indicates that many women have gone through some very difficult situations, such as abuse, and are reticent to come forward. It's not unlike women who have been in the force themselves.

What are you doing as “E” Division to deal with these allegations? What kind of training that involves both anti-sexism and anti-racism training are you implementing for your officers so that this kind of abuse doesn't happen, so that one day, these young aboriginal women will see the RCMP and the police as an avenue where they can work as well?

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

Clearly, the allegations that have been raised in the Human Rights Watch report are very serious and very disturbing. We have taken the position from the beginning that we would encourage that the facts be brought forward in whatever means possible. That could be through the local first nations political leadership, through our local first nations community consultative committees, and through the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP. Those sorts of matters need to be addressed for sure.

We have an aboriginal advisory committee in our division. I meet with that group quarterly, and it is made up of representatives from first nations communities across the province. We currently have first nations cultural awareness training in our division as we do across the country. My aboriginal advisory committee members have agreed to take the training, critique the training, and provide me with feedback on how it can be improved. We are also embarking at present on a new initiative to develop community profiles and localize training around local community issues and experiences in each one of our first nations communities so we can respond as appropriately as possible.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Sorry, just before the time ends, Commissioner, do you have a timeline for that critique or a goal in terms of the time by which you would like to receive that?

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Very quickly.

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

I expect it to be done by our next quarterly meeting, which will be in June.

[Niki Ashton, NDP, Churchill, MB]

Thank you very much.

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

Thank you.

Ms. Crockatt now has the floor for five minutes.

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Thank you very much, Deputy Commissioner Callens and Inspector Bradley. It's wonderful to have you here to explain to us what's going on.

I congratulate you on what you're doing. I think you received praise from all parties today, so that certainly speaks to how you have addressed this issue.

I wanted to ask about how you're moving forward with regard to immigrants. You've talked a tiny bit about first nations and males. We have lots of different groups that are probably represented in the group that you've received complaints from. You talked about a mentorship program that you're doing. Have you actually implemented that mentorship program? Does it include groups like men and visible minorities in your mentors?

[Insp Carol Bradley]

In our mentorship program within the action plan, we have two groups. One is our respectful workplace advisory committee. That is a group of officers or officer equivalents who have come together from all of the different business lines across the province. We're starting to do some formal training with that group in person. We are trying to create a system that would allow information to be fed back and forth so that these groups of people will also be connected to our respectful workplace advisers, and support them in the different areas.

Part of the overall plan really is to create an environment so any employee can bring forward any workplace concerns or conflict through those individuals.

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Maybe I could direct this a little more to see where we are with regard to it.

We know that Canada is one of the countries in the world that's accepting the most immigrants of anywhere. We would like to see our police force recognize and represent that, as well as enhance the presence of females. We talked about communications issues. I'm trying to see if that's on your radar. In addition to the bullying and harassment, we have to make sure that the force is reflective of the Canadian public and is embracing modern values. Are those on your radar?

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

Yes, thank you.

I'm sorry, I think I perhaps misunderstood your initial question.

We have a dedicated effort, whether it is the recruitment, retention, or development of our members, to ensure that we have adequate and appropriate employment equity group representation. Whether it is my employee advisory committee, whether it is my diversity committee, whether it is the respectful workplace advisers or the respectful workplace committee, we ensure that we have appropriate representation and balance so that we are reflective of both our community and what our organization hopes to be.

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Okay, so let's go into the advancement of women.

First of all, I just want to make sure that we know what the case is. It's not just because we are promoting women's rights, which of course we want to see advanced. What is the case for having more females in the officer ranks?

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

For me personally it is the tremendous value that diversity brings in terms of insight, in terms of the type of lens we need to put in front of us as we are developing policies and as we are developing responses to community issues and community policing issues. It is not helpful—

[The Chair, NDP, Marie-Claude Morin]

You have one minute.

[D/Commr Craig J. Callens]

—if the only lens we are looking through is a male lens. We need to have—

[Joan Crockatt, Conservative, Calgary Centre, AB]

Since we've only got one minute, maybe I can fast-forward.

Could you tell us what you're doing about female advancement in the officer ranks?