Mr. Speaker, I am pleased to rise today to speak in support of Motion No. 167, the motion on rural crime that was introduced by my colleague from Lakeland, a motion that I and many others had the privilege of seconding.
Before I begin, I would like to recognize and thank my colleague for her tireless work on behalf of her constituents and for bringing forward this motion, which, as members will come to understand, addresses a growing issue in both my riding and the province of Saskatchewan.
Motion No. 167 instructs the Standing Committee on Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness to undertake a detailed review of rural crime throughout Canada and to make recommendations to address the problems on a national level. This review, and the report that will follow, are not only welcome and required, but I believe long overdue. They will help us identify the scope of the problems, as well as the difficulties, facing the RCMP regarding staffing, officer health, and allocation of resources.
Earlier this year, I had the pleasure of visiting with constituents during my annual winter and spring riding tours. At nearly 30,000 square kilometres, Carlton Trail—Eagle Creek is a large, mostly rural, riding. It is half the size of the province of Nova Scotia, with approximately 60 hamlets, villages, towns, and three small cities, numerous Hutterite colonies, and two first nation communities, and a whole lot of geography in-between, with rural municipalities, which are home to our farmers, ranchers, and acreage owners. While it is difficult to get to all of those communities, I believe it is important to make every effort to hear the concerns of my constituents directly. At the top of mind for many is rural crime.
At the same time, local RCMP detachments held community meetings throughout the province where this same issue was raised over and over again. Without fail, I heard constituents voice a deep commitment to finding solutions to ensure that the tragedy that took place in 2016 on the Stanley farm, located in my riding, never happens again. They are calling on all orders of government to pass and enforce laws that ensure the protection of all.
Every Canadian should feel safe in their home, in their community, and in their daily life. That is why I chose to second this motion. It is vital that we provide levels of policing in our rural communities comparable to those that Canadians enjoy in our cities.
An effective, responsive, and empowered police force is capable of heading off crime and confrontation simply by being present and accessible. The most effective means of ensuring that unfortunate situations do not escalate to tragedies is to prevent those situations from happening at all.
On the Prairies, and especially in my riding, many family farms are isolated, kilometres away from other farms or communities, and often more than an hour away from the nearest RCMP detachment. This is far from a modern concern.
Throughout Canada's history, vast distances have always proven to be a challenge for the enforcement of federal laws. The North-West Mounted Police was founded in 1873 for this very reason, to bring order to the frontier. One hundred and forty-five years later, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police continues to provide protection to communities and individuals in those same isolated areas of our country. I believe it is time to review how the government and the RCMP, as well as provincial and local police forces, provide those services.
According to the RCMP, rural crime in Canada is on the rise. For example, after dropping from 2012 to 2014, property crimes rose in 2015 and 2016. This is cause for concern, especially in Saskatchewan.
Unfortunately, my province currently leads the country in per capita rural crime, with 13,080 criminal convictions per 100,000 rural residents. This is nearly double the national average of 6,609 per 100,000. Thankfully, the Government of Saskatchewan is taking action on this file. It created a caucus committee to study the issue, and has since invested over $5 million and created the protection and response team program aimed at empowering officers to reduce rural crime through, for instance, faster response times.
However, this is only a first step. The province is working with a limited data set and without the support of a national program. The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities, also known as SARM, understands the gargantuan task the RCMP faces. For that reason it has endorsed Motion No. 167, which reads: “Rural crime and policing have long been a concern for Saskatchewan's rural municipalities. SARM very much supports the creation of a strategy to improve rural crime prevention and address emerging crime rates.”
I would like to be clear, however, that this is not merely a Saskatchewan issue. The RCMP serves as the primary rural police force in every province and territory, except Ontario and Quebec. While those provinces have their own provincial police forces, the OPP and the SQ respectively, those forces are faced with the same daunting task of providing effective enforcement over vast rural areas. That task would be made simpler by the additional information that a national review would provide as far as raw data is concerned, but also by any policy and procedure recommendations that would arise.
The little data we do have paints a picture that is growing more concerning. I mentioned Saskatchewan's rural crime numbers earlier, and how they increased in both 2015 and 2016. The same is true in Manitoba, British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario. Rural property crimes, including thefts of property and motor vehicles, mischief, break and enter, and arson, increased over the last two years as well. These increases must be addressed quickly and effectively. If passed, Motion No. 167 and the information and recommendations resulting from the review could provide invaluable support not only for Saskatchewan but also for the entirety of Canada.
I would also like to take a moment to highlight and commend the excellent work of the members of the RCMP. Faced with immensely difficult tasks, officers work professionally and with great dedication to ensure the safety of their fellow Canadians. Unfortunately, the resources that our officers need are often unavailable or lacking. In many cases, divisions are severely understaffed due to retirements and recruiting difficulties. Often this leads to operational gaps that stretch current members thin, resulting in health issues, both physical and mental, arising.
Undertaking this review will help shed light on the full extent of these realities. Identifying the RCMP's full resources, including personnel, and their policies in relation to population density, geographic area, and the handling of staff shortages would allow the government to reassess current programs and reallocate resources as needed.
Last week, I held round tables in my riding, together with my colleague from Lakeland, to hear from community leaders, the RCMP, and those organizations like Rural Crime Watch to hear their thoughts on this motion. While there is frustration and apprehension, our protective services are committed to doing the best with what they have, and community leaders and those working in partnership with them are committed to ensuring that their communities are safe.
A national review is not only a necessary next step to combat rural crime but, as I noted earlier, past due. Motion No. 167 would help clarify problems and identify solutions.
So far, we have heard two members of the governing party speak to this motion, the Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Services and the Parliamentary Secretary to the Government House Leader. Canadians living in rural and remote areas of our country need to know that the Liberal government is taking their concerns, as well as this motion, seriously. Skating around the issue and paying it lip service is not enough. Rural Canadians need to know that the Liberal members in this place support the motion.