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
This is a good way of saying that it's 1,000 people we're getting in the door.
Liberal
Ron McKinnon Liberal Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC
Excellent. Thank you.
Are any of these 250 special people doing any kind of policing, or are they in supporting roles?
Commr Michael Duheme
They'll be predominantly in supporting roles with regard to the mandate of federal policing.
Liberal
Ron McKinnon Liberal Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC
Basically, they make the work of the 750 officers and others much more effective.
Commr Michael Duheme
If you look at your cellphone, it's a mini computer now. I can't stress enough the special skill sets we need to support the frontline officers.
Liberal
Ron McKinnon Liberal Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC
I'll segue away from that and talk more about your new recruiting strategy. You mentioned that one thing you're doing is recruiting from “other jurisdictions”. Does that mean other police forces? What do you mean by other jurisdictions?
Commr Michael Duheme
This practice has been well under way in many police forces. In the RCMP it started probably five or six years ago. A good example is that my good colleague, Mr. Adam Palmer, was the chief of police in Vancouver for 10 years. He is well respected in Canadian law enforcement, as well as in international law enforcement. I'm happy to have him in charge of this whole new recruiting transformation.
As I said, we offer certain opportunities that other police forces, because of their size and because of the mandate, are not exposed to. This in itself is attractive to some of the people. Again, in the last couple of years we're averaging anywhere from between about 100 to 150 coming to join the RCMP. Adam can get into the details of what takes place once they come in. There is a training process. We've expanded this to peace officers. Peace officers would be sheriffs, marshals, conservation officers, fisheries officers and CBSA officers. We want to bring a breadth of diversity and experience into the organization.
Liberal
Ron McKinnon Liberal Coquitlam—Port Coquitlam, BC
When you recruit from other jurisdictions in this way, I should think that there's a certain cultural difference between those police forces and the RCMP. Does this add an additional complexity to the training?
A/Commr Adam Palmer
Thank you for the question.
This is an important point, because it goes toward the multiple pathways we're looking at coming into the RCMP. As the commissioner mentioned, it's a very competitive policing environment. There are about 194 different police agencies in Canada. Everybody is taking from one another. This has been going on for many years. People will take people from the RCMP when it's appealing for individual members, and we will take people from other police services.
What we have to offer is over 150 different specialties in the RCMP. We have mobility and the ability to do local, national and international assignments. We offer things that no other police service in Canada does. Over the past three and a half years, we've hired over 600 experienced police officers from various jurisdictions across Canada.
As the commissioner mentioned, we're starting a new program that I will say no other police service in Canada is doing. We'll be the first in the country. We'll be fast-tracking peace officers into the RCMP in an expedited process. If you are a sheriff, conservation officer, wildlife officer or that type of thing, with firearms training and legal studies on use of force and those types of things, you have a skill set that we're looking for in the RCMP. We can train you now in a shorter curriculum. Because of the knowledge, skills and abilities you bring, we can train you in 14 weeks instead of 26 weeks.
We're also leveraging alternate sites so that we don't take up capacity at Depot. We'll be using our Pacific region training centre in Chilliwack, which is a world-class training facility. We're also looking at leveraging other sites we have, such as the Canadian Police College. We will bring people in as new cadets. We will bring in experienced police officers and experienced peace officers. We're the first in Canada to do that, and we're very proud of this prospect.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
Thank you very much.
Mr. Blanchette‑Joncas, you now have the floor for two and a half minutes.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
Mr. Duheme, I have an important question: Does the RCMP currently have the necessary staff to carry out its various mandates in Quebec?
Commr Michael Duheme
If you ask any chief of police, they will tell you that we never have the necessary staff. Indeed, we always want to do more. However, we also have a duty to manage risk and ensure that resources are deployed in the right place at the right time.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
Speaking of risk, I'd like to quote one of your colleagues from the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, Daniel Dubois. As the acting non-commissioned officer responsible for border patrol in Champlain, Quebec, he's the one ensuring border security at Roxham Road with his team. I think you're very familiar with this issue. He says that the closure of Roxham Road has now made it more difficult to control irregular crossings, because people have to cross along the entire border instead of going through one crossing.
From a strictly operational standpoint, are you suggesting that the government change the entry point? Do you recommend reopening Roxham Road to facilitate intervention?
Commr Michael Duheme
I would say that the statistics I get each week show that fewer people are being intercepted between ports of entry than before. The Government of Canada has invested $660 million in the RCMP to improve technology, resource deployment and drones to protect the borders. I would say that the number of people crossing between ports of entry is lower and that people are no longer there at Roxham Road. I would say that it was problematic before because it was well known, and people could cross at that location.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
That wasn't the question.
Say that there's either one point to intercept people or 147 points, for example. Which is easier?
Commr Michael Duheme
If we agreed that everyone goes through that point, that's one thing. However, people were also crossing between ports of entry at various locations in the country, not just at Roxham Road.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
You don't agree with what your colleague is saying, then. According to him, it's more difficult to contain irregular crossings because people are entering everywhere, whereas they used to enter at one location.
Commr Michael Duheme
Yes, that's for sure, if we claim that everyone was coming through at one location. However, based on the information I had at the time, I can tell you that people weren't crossing only at Roxham Road, if we're talking solely about Quebec.
September 24th, 2026 / 12:40 p.m.
Rimouski-Neigette—Mitis—Matapédia—Les Basques, BQ
From 2017 to 2023, 113,000 asylum seekers passed through one location. How many are currently crossing via the rest of the border in Quebec?
Commr Michael Duheme
I can give you the number of people who have been apprehended in the past year, but I'm unable to give you the total number. I can get back to you later with the number of people we have apprehended between ports of entry.
Conservative
The Chair Conservative John Williamson
We'll look for those. Thank you very much.
Mr. Falk, welcome back to public accounts.
You have the floor for five minutes, please.
Conservative
Ted Falk Conservative Provencher, MB
Thank you, Mr. Chair, and thank you to our witnesses.
Thank you, Auditor General, for this report and the work you've done.
Commissioner, I'd like to begin with you.
Folks in my riding—and I'm served well by D Division—are proud of the RCMP, and I think Canadians in general are proud of our police force. It's to your credit, all of you, that it is this way. I'm wondering, sir, how long you have been an RCMP member.