Evidence of meeting #47 for Public Accounts in the 45th Parliament, 1st session. (The original version is on Parliament’s site, as are the minutes.) The winning word was depot.
A video is available from Parliament.
Commr Michael Duheme
If you'll allow me, I'll let Mr. Adam Palmer respond, because he's our chief transformation officer for recruiting. Adam and his team have been dissecting everything that we have right now in the recruiting program. Adam can share that with you in detail.
Assistant Commissioner Adam Palmer Assistant Commissioner, National Recruitment Transformation, Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Good morning.
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you for the question.
The processing time was a big issue for us. It's something we've been very alive to and have been working on full steam since September 2025. In fact, on February 1, we implemented a new process in British Columbia and the Yukon as a pilot project, changing the game in the way we process applicants to the RCMP.
I would just like people to know that we're very fortunate in that last year we had 20,997 people apply to the RCMP, so we do not have a problem attracting people. An incredible number of people, three shy of 21,000, applied to be Mounties, and it was over 8,500 this year alone since the new fiscal year. There's no problem attracting people.
The issue was the processing, so we've gone from the system that was primarily public service employees and centred at one central location—at Depot in Regina. All these public service employees were managing the large group of people who were applying into the RCMP. Since the February 1 pilot project, we've moved to a hybrid model. We now have regular RCMP members and public service employees working in concert, streamlining the process significantly and getting it down to six months, which is where we want it to be. That's our target. We've been able to process even quicker than six months during the pilot project.
In terms of some of the things we've done, in a nutshell, I will tell you that we've applied the queueing theory. Think of a large funnel with 21,000 people at the top. When you get to the bottom of the funnel, that's how many people we send to Depot. Coming out at the very bottom of the funnel will be the number of people who graduate from Depot, the people who successfully get through. We've put time and effort into the early stages of the processing to remove people from the process who have a low likelihood of success. We do get people applying to the RCMP who may have criminality in their background, for example. They may have mental health histories. They may have things that preclude them from becoming a police officer. This would also include not meeting our base requirements. Those sorts of people we move out quickly.
We have sped up the processing time by bringing people from a linear process into now a very flexible and dynamic recruiting process. We can bring in large numbers of people and process them through several steps, sometimes in a weekend or over several days, doing early attribute evaluations and interviews, making sure they have all their documentation and meet all the requirements, and doing early law enforcement record checks to make sure they're viable candidates. Then we close the number down to make sure that the ones we're focusing on have the highest likelihood of success in our process. It's proved to be very helpful.
In terms of decentralization in recruiting and adding back in the regular members, I'll use an analogy with regard to one of the problems we had before. If you were ever thinking about being a pharmacist, before you became a pharmacist you would want to talk to a pharmacist. If you wanted to be a schoolteacher, you would want to talk to a schoolteacher. We had a process in which you would never talk to a police officer. You'd never talk to a Mountie before you showed up at Depot, believe it or not. Now we have a process in which you will actually work with a police recruiter investigator who will have first-hand responsibility for your file, working with our PSC counterparts and moving you through the process in a much more efficient and timely manner, with flexibility and shorter time gaps between each step in the process.
Liberal
Jean Yip Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
Would there be somebody there guiding the applicant and answering their questions?
A/Commr Adam Palmer
Yes. That would be part of it. For example, if you apply to the RCMP, we will do early checks to make sure that you're a viable candidate. We would invite you in. We can also do it remotely. For example, because we're doing the pilot in British Columbia and the Yukon, you don't have to come down to a main centre in the metro Vancouver area. You could be up in the north. You could be on Vancouver Island. You could be in the southeast portion of the province.
We can now run physical tests and give our police fitness assessment to make sure you meet the physical requirements. We will check your documents. We will do an attribute evaluation in which we check to make sure you can speak one of the two official languages. We will make sure you have good communication skills and good interpersonal skills. We'll get a sense of you. Throughout that process, the applicant now knows which Mountie will be their recruiting officer. They can have direct contact. It was more of an administrative process before. It didn't have the same ownership and accountability. We've brought this into the process and reduced the processing times.
Liberal
A/Commr Adam Palmer
That's an absolutely astute observation. The recruiting environment in Canada is very competitive. We have people applying many times to the RCMP and multiple police services simultaneously. Because our recruiting process was taking so long administratively, we had opportunity losses with people going to other agencies. We're reducing the opportunity cost by keeping them engaged in our process and processing them quicker.
Liberal
Jean Yip Liberal Scarborough—Agincourt, ON
If we look at exhibit 8 of the Auditor General's report, we see there is a bit of a timeline. It shows “Intake”, “Applicant selection”, “Suitability review” and so forth. It says that “Intake” was “23 days slower”—and you've mentioned some improvements—that “Applicant selection” was “60 days slower” and that the “Suitability review” was “55 days slower”.
Do some of those improvements made in November capture some of the more lagging time delays there?
Commr Michael Duheme
Mr. Chair, if I may....
The Auditor General—Karen and her team—looked at the old system that we had in place, which was very linear. I want to highlight the fact that some of the delays in the process are our own doing, but there are sometimes also delays caused by the applicant when they don't return the questionnaire or when they have to correct something and it takes two to three weeks.
Following the review by Adam and his team of different processes in the Five Eyes countries and in Canada, we've changed the whole linear process altogether. To compare the new process with what we have here would be difficult, but the ultimate goal with the new process is going from 330 days down to six months, which would be very acceptable and 50% shorter than what we have right now.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
Thank you.
I'm afraid that is your time, Ms. Yip, but I'm sure we'll come back to you.
Mr. Blanchette‑Joncas, you have the floor for six minutes.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
Thank you, Mr. Chair.
I'd like to welcome the witnesses who are with us today.
Good morning also to the members of the committee. It's a pleasure to be back on this committee, which I was on from 2019 to 2021.
My first questions will be for you, Commissioner Duheme.
You are a Quebecker from Chambly. I'd like to hear your comments on a very important issue for Quebeckers. In October 2023, at the Standing Committee on Official Languages, you acknowledged the RCMP's difficulties in meeting its language obligations, particularly with respect to French. In February 2024, the Commissioner of Official Languages himself attributed these difficulties to a culture problem in your organization.
Do you share the same diagnosis?
Commr Michael Duheme
First of all, congratulations on your election as vice-chair.
Second, I'm not saying that there isn't a language culture in the organization. Bilingual people are posted and can apply pretty much anywhere in the country. So, I don't entirely agree that there's a culture, in the sense that was described. I'm not at all convinced that the language issue is a cultural one.
Bilingualism exists in the organization. I'm bilingual, and I expect others to be bilingual as well. To ensure that everyone in the organization is bilingual—much like in the public service once you reach a certain level—we would almost have to hire only bilingual people, which isn't really realistic. However, training in Regina is given in a bilingual format.
So I don't entirely agree that there is a culture that neglects francophones within the RCMP.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
If you don't think there's a culture problem, why aren't you able to meet your own obligations under the Official Languages Act? I'm not making this up; it's the Commissioner of Official Languages who said that.
Commr Michael Duheme
I'm not sure which report you're referring to, so I'd need to refresh my memory on that document.
However, that may be. There are places in Canada where, when a news release is issued in an emergency, it isn't entirely in both official languages. It's risk management done by the manager responsible for issuing the news release, if it's an urgent operational news release.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
Okay. Let me refresh your memory, then. You know that in Quebec, our motto is “Je me souviens”, or “I remember”.
So you yourself, in October 2023, were at the Standing Committee on Official Languages, and you committed to restoring training entirely in French. So, today, tell us what has happened over the past three years. What commitments have you made, and what actions have you taken?
Another thing: In 2023, according to the latest data we have, 41% of your officers who had to have a bilingual position were unable to meet the language criteria of their position. That means that two out of five RCMP officers were not bilingual when they should have been.
Today, you are telling me that there is no problem, and that everything is fine.
Commr Michael Duheme
I didn't say everything was fine.
When I said that everything was fine, I was referring to culture and francophones. When I look at my staff's proficiency in French, I see that most of the people around the table are bilingual. I admit that, sometimes, there are challenges when it comes to staffing. We're looking for people with specific qualifications, and they aren't necessarily bilingual.
It's important to understand one thing: I understand that there are criteria to be met, and I know many bilingual people, but they don't meet the criteria. However, when you talk to them, you realize they're perfectly bilingual.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
Can you formally confirm to us today that in 2026, 100% of officers at the rank of inspector and above who hold a position that is normally bilingual truly meet these language requirements?
Commr Michael Duheme
I'm unable to confirm at this time that they're all bilingual. If you would like statistics on bilingualism among the executives in the organization—at the inspector rank and above—I would be happy to send them to the committee.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
Okay.
Mr. Duheme, do you think these issues regarding compliance with language obligations, particularly those concerning French, are hindering your efforts to recruit francophones? They might wonder why they would join an organization where French isn't important and where, once again, the obligations under the Official Languages Act can't even be met.
Commr Michael Duheme
I would say that no one in the organization is saying that French isn't important. As for most people in the province of Quebec, obviously, the language chosen is French. New Brunswick is a completely bilingual province. We have bilingual positions scattered across Canada.
I encourage people to join the RCMP. We have bilingual units at Depot Division, which provide a learning environment for people who want to learn a second language.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
So there are no issues with recruiting exclusively in English outside Quebec. Everything is bilingual. Is that correct?
Commr Michael Duheme
I don't know. No one reported any recruitment problems to me regarding people who speak only French. It's important to understand that, as far as I know, the RCMP doesn't have any unilingual French positions.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
However, there are many who are unilingual anglophones. That's true.
Commr Michael Duheme
If we look at the positions held by the organization's 19,000 police officers, we see that there are indeed many positions in western Canada and the Maritimes that are English only.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
Okay.
Don't you have an obligation under the Official Languages Act to provide services in French?
Commr Michael Duheme
These are services in English and French, the two official languages. We try to meet that obligation as much as possible.