Public Safety committee  Good morning, honourable members of the parliamentary committee, Chair. My name is Rae Banwarie. I am the President of the Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada. Thank you for the opportunity to address the committee regarding Bill C-7. I have been involved in the

Public Safety committee  We're just in the introductory stages of that as part of an amendment to it, but it is a very big, dynamic, huge issue that we're going to have to bring forward in terms of what you're asking for, but that's something that our lawyers are looking at right now to go into more in d

Public Safety committee  We have the same sort of scenario now, with the Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act, in terms of discipline and everything. The employer controls all facets of that process, whether it's a conduct board, a medical board, or a discharge process. The only ave

Public Safety committee  The same scenario is happening whether it's in B.C., Alberta, or Manitoba; it's the same situation. This ties back to the whole set of discipline clauses that we talked about, to why the regime has to be independent. The commissioner and his delegates have total authority over ev

Public Safety committee  That's what we're trying to bring, in terms of positive change, for everything we're doing.

Public Safety committee  This all ties back to the resourcing. We were approached by the labour tribunal in regards to the death of our member in St. Albert. Do you remember the member who got killed in the casino with the auxiliary? We were asked to be the respondents. I went there, along with another e

Public Safety committee  How do you manage that? Somebody has died. The auxiliary got shot. Now you are appealing the decision? Why, when it directly ties to the health and safety of our people? When I was at the Senate standing committee, I gave testimony in regards to Bill C-42. I said that If this bi

Public Safety committee  Absolutely, those parts you're talking about are key.

Public Safety committee  I would say the core ones that are in the bill are problematic for us, because they all come back to us being able to do the job effectively. Why don't we look at the other police agencies and see what they're doing? What are their best practices? How do they...in terms of their

Public Safety committee  Another part to be aware of is that for referrals, you have to go to health services. Before you could even get that type of assistance, you have to go to a health services doctor or a psychologist who is employed by the RCMP, and their client isn't the member; it's the employer.

Veterans Affairs committee  Thank you, Chair and committee members, for allowing us to be here to present with regard to a very important topic. My name is Rae Banwarie. I'm the national president of the Mounted Police Professional Association. We are the group trying to organize and unionize the RCMP. We

Veterans Affairs committee  Part of that issue, and it's a big piece, stems from trust, as I mentioned in my presentation. You're seen as one member, and—probably parallel to the military—if something happens, you become the weak link. You're seen now as the weak person, and that in itself has all kinds of

Veterans Affairs committee  Right now, you do have the ability through Veterans Affairs to go to an OSI clinic, depending on a diagnosis for whatever it may be, whether it's PTSD or anxiety and depression and that type of thing. From what I understand, the process has changed. Before now, you could get refe

Veterans Affairs committee  I don't have that statistic to tell you how many have been disallowed in terms of getting more care.

Veterans Affairs committee  Okay.