Thank you, Mr. Chair.
Good morning, Mr. Chair, members of the committee. Thank you for inviting me to appear before you to discuss the Auditor General's report on recruiting for the RCMP.
With me today is assistant commissioner, Adam Palmer, who is responsible for national recruitment transformation.
The RCMP accepts the recommendations in the Auditor General's report, and we appreciate the work of the Auditor General and her team.
The report identifies challenges with how the RCMP manages its workforce and staffing. Organizationally, our issues are historical, centred on how we recruit and train cadets, manage vacancies and measure results. I would like to assure the chair, committee members and Auditor General that I take these findings seriously and remain committed to change.
Our management action plan has been shared with the Office of the Auditor General and this committee. Today, the assistant commissioner, Adam Palmer, and I are here to provide an update on efforts and to answer your questions.
Recruitment, training capacity, workforce planning, vacancy reduction and posting decisions are closely connected and must be addressed together. The RCMP is pursuing a modern approach to better understand staffing needs, recruit and train effectively and manage future staffing risks.
This initiative is important as the RCMP works to strengthen its federal policing mandate. The government has invested in adding 1,000 new federal policing positions to help the RCMP address threats to national security, transnational organized crime, and border and financial crime.
Following an external review and an internal report on recruitment practices across Five Eyes countries, we are making the application process more personal, flexible and efficient, while maintaining core assessment requirements.
In March 2026, the RCMP released its organization-wide national recruiting strategy to improve screening, modernize online tools, strengthen outreach and increase workforce diversity. With government support, the RCMP has increased the cadet recruit allowance to help address financial barriers for recruits.
Project Red Serge is testing a direct, applicant-focused model in B.C. and Yukon. Recruiters have a greater involvement with applicants, key screening steps occur earlier and assessment pathways are managed flexibly. The redesigned process enables recruiters to identify and defer non-qualified or non-competitive applicants earlier in the process, focusing resources and attention on high-potential candidates who are more likely to progress. The early results are encouraging, and we are assessing long-term and nationwide potential.
The RCMP is making it easier for qualified, experienced candidates to join through different pathways. We are establishing national standards for recruiting police officers from other jurisdictions and piloting a pathway for experienced peace officers.
Increasing the diversity of our workforce remains one of our recruitment goals. The RCMP works with indigenous organizations and under-represented communities, while pre-cadet programs provide an introduction to police work and prepare participants for the training offered at Depot Division.
The RCMP is developing a first nations, Inuit and Métis recruitment strategy for police officers and public service employees, informed by engagement with indigenous employees, regional representatives and national indigenous organizations.
We are developing a workforce planning model to provide enterprise-wide demand information and real-time data on needs by region and function, including current and projected frontline vacancies to be implemented this fiscal year.
The management action plan provides for evidence-based vacancy targets, timelines and regular reporting.
The RCMP is reviewing how it assesses recruitment, workforce capacity and long-term sustainability. We will track application processing times, the rates at which cadets are admitted to a detachment and promoted to constable, vacancy rates, workforce diversity indicators and progress made toward operational staffing needs.
We will modernize recruit training and increase capacity at our training academy, Depot. We are currently conducting an extensive review of Depot. This is a holistic review of the curriculum, the culture, the leadership and the overall environment in which our cadets are trained.
Mr. Chair, while the work ahead is substantial, I assure you that we are committed and are making good progress. My objective is to ensure that the RCMP has the right people, skills and capacity required to meet operational demands across its policing responsibilities and to deliver the services Canadians expect.
Thank you for the opportunity to speak with you today.
Mr. Palmer and I would be pleased to answer any questions the committee may have.