Public Safety committee  I think one thing that has made the problems in the RCMP so bad is that the people who've complained along the way and the settlements they've had have rendered those people then voiceless. In order to settle their complaint, they are forced to sign off on these agreements. Part of the reason we all got so sick and got to the point we did was that no one could talk about it.

Public Safety committee  That's very important, because a lot of us have ended up with anxiety issues, depression and PTSD. There are times when we can engage and take on this issue, and there are times when, for our own mental health, we just have to back away for a bit. If someone lays a complaint and then goes silent for a little bit, I think it's very important that the commission has the power to reach out to that person or keep something going while they regroup and re-engage.

Public Safety committee  From the membership and from my own personal experience, I think there's a lot of institutional betrayal there, where you feel that it's no good going within to make a complaint because you're just going to be blacklisted as a problem child or you're not going to get a promotion or courses that you wanted because now you have a big mouth.

Public Safety committee  I'll try to answer that. We have found over the years that there is nowhere for the RCMP employees and personnel to go to report those types of things that are happening. They created an independent centre of harassment resolution as part of our lawsuit, but it's woefully underfunded and understaffed.

Public Safety committee  Yes.

Public Safety committee  Absolutely. It creates a tormented workplace when you have people who are committed police officers and want to do the right job, yet they're having to investigate their superior or their colleague. It puts everybody in a very bad conflict of interest. I think the pressure is on from within to find things that are unfounded because even the investigators fear some sort of retaliation.