Status of Women committee  I went through it. I took my experiences with how these new things would help. I have it here. I could always e-mail it to you, if you want it. I have a few concerns about how it would benefit because policies are only as effective as the people who enforce them. I think there ar

Status of Women committee  Yes, I did mention some of that, but it was put out in the second edition in 2010. That's before Commissioner Paulson came on the scene.

Status of Women committee  I'm not sure, because they had similar goals 25 years ago. In 1989 they wanted to get it up to 25% and even though they increased the number of women, we were dropping like flies. Our life expectancy within the RCMP was one to five years, or three to five years. I'm not sure if a

Status of Women committee  That's a good question. I would say that they should trust their gut. Are they the only one this is happening to? Does it feel right? Sometimes people make mistakes and accept that, but then have enough courage to say, “Excuse me, you know the phone was for me”. Why didn't you ch

Status of Women committee  They have made some changes, which is great. The shift within the mindset of the organization and this culture of protectiveness is definitely going to take some time, because people have to buy into this idea of a respectful workplace. For me, I think they would have to continu

Status of Women committee  You just make me want to cry when you say that. I've been saying that for so long. After my—

Status of Women committee  I just wanted to say that the statement made me want to cry because after my second grievance, which took six years, there was a job opening up within the RCMP for the member assistance program, where an officer would go and help people who are having problems with grievances and

Status of Women committee  I've made a difference for the justice and equality part for the people who are in my immediate sphere of influence, my partner and my daughter—she is a very strong feminist—and then, of course, people who are both RCMP and non-RCMP. When they speak to me, when they read my book,

Status of Women committee  I think after this, in 2002, with regard to the grievance process that was so confusing.... The problem with the grievance process at that time was that so many people retired or were promoted that nobody was really able to make a decision. They made some changes with regard to t

Status of Women committee  After 140 years, if they're still doing the same thing, they're still going to get the same results. It has to be an organizational shift with everybody.

Status of Women committee  Oh, definitely, and that's because people are afraid. People are terrified. The squeaky wheel gets bonked on the head. They're the ones who have the stalled careers. They're the ones who get further targeted for harassment or alienation within the detachment, or that particular r

Status of Women committee  I think so, yes.

Status of Women committee  Wow. That's a very good question. Coming forward was the most terrifying thing I've ever done, basically because I knew the history. I knew that the reaction would be negative and that the retribution would be quick and swift. I was correct on that, but I knew there were other p

Status of Women committee  My grievance against the medical discharge in fact took six years. As a result, at the very end there were recommendations by the external review board to make changes to the grievance process. They were saying this person was off almost six years while this was going on, and if

Status of Women committee  That's the million-dollar question. I really would like to know what an effective answer would be to that. The problem that I've seen is the fact that in the internal process, when people are making complaints, the RCMP is handling them. As you have seen this last year or two,