Commissioner's mandate letter

Commissioner Brenda Lucki
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
RCMP National Headquarters
73 Leikin Drive
Ottawa ON  K1A 0R2

Dear Commissioner Lucki:

It is with pleasure that I write to you in my capacity as Minister of Public Safety. I would like to update the mandate letter issued to you by the Honourable Ralph Goodale upon your appointment as Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) in 2018.

I am incredibly proud of the women and men of the RCMP, and the work they do every day across the country and around the world. Their presence is crucial to both community safety and national security. The RCMP, like all Canadians, has been forced to grapple with unprecedented challenges in recent years. Your leadership as Commissioner has been pivotal to ensuring that the Force can keep Canadians safe, while protecting their rights and freedoms. Thank you for your hard work over the past four years.

I am pleased to note the progress you've made since 2018, as reflected in the RCMP's Vision 150 and Beyond, including:

• addressing systemic racism, including through the launch of the RCMP's first ever Equity, Diversity and Inclusion Strategy and instituting mandatory training for all employees
• modernizing the RCMP's recruitment program to ensure a more diverse and inclusive membership
• ensuring the RCMP senior leadership are role models who embody the RCMP's core values
• advancing reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, including developing reconciliation strategies and producing the RCMP's first annual Reconciliation Report
• ensuring that all RCMP employees understand the shared responsibility to foster a safe and inclusive workplace
• implementing a new Employee Well-being Strategy that focuses on providing support services, and prevention, early intervention and treatment of mental health challenges

These are notable advancements, which will make a meaningful difference both within the RCMP and in the communities it serves. Yet there remains more work to be done.

As you know, the Prime Minister has given me a mandate to act in several important areas, and many of these touch upon the work of the RCMP. Most notably, he has asked me to prioritize policing reform. My central objectives are ensuring the RCMP meets the needs of Canadians, addressing systemic racism, eliminating harassment and discrimination and creating a culture of accountability, diversity and inclusion.

To realize these objectives, the Prime Minister has asked me to deliver on the following specific mandate commitments:

• With the support of the Minister for Women and Gender Equality and Youth, accelerate action to reform the RCMP, including by:
  • enhancing the Management Advisory Board to create an oversight role over the RCMP
  • externalizing the Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution
  • establishing defined timelines to respond to recommendations from the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission
  • launching an external review of the RCMP's sanctions and disciplinary regime to determine the adequacy of existing sanctions and whether they are applied properly and consistently
  • prohibiting the use of neck restraints in any circumstance and the use of tear gas or rubber bullets for crowd control alongside developing national standards for the use-of-force
  • conducting an external review of de-escalation training to make sure it results in the safest possible outcomes for officers and Canadians

Your work as Commissioner is instrumental to making these goals reality. To that end, I am outlining the issues and objectives that I see as essential. I also identify a number of other mandate commitments and issues that necessitate the RCMP's engagement and support.

Specifically, I look forward to working with you to accelerate RCMP reform over the next two years by:

• improving RCMP recruitment at all levels to better reflect the communities it serves, in particular Indigenous and Black communities, and recruiting more members with the skills necessary to combat sophisticated crimes
• implementing measures to support the mental health and wellness of all members and employees
• supporting the development of national standards on crisis intervention, conducting an external review on de-escalation and identifying the tools and training necessary to implement them
• improving the Independent Centre for Harassment Resolution (ICHR) by making it fully external and ensuring the sanctions and disciplinary regime is credible and effective, with the support of the Minister of Women and Gender Equality and Youth
• ensuring that RCMP responses to reports and recommendations of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission meet agreed timelines
• working closely with Indigenous partners and communities in addressing the traumatic legacy of Residential Schools, including assistance for communities in uncovering truths, proactive disclosure of documents and enabling alternative forms of community investigations as communities seek justice at their own pace
• advancing reconciliation and addressing the national tragedy of Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2SLGBTQI+ people
• advancing LGBTQ2 inclusion by ensuring actions and reviews of all organizational policies, procedures and practices taken by the RCMP are conducted with LGBTQ2 employees, external stakeholders and subject matter experts

I recognize that there remains more to do to address the needs of contract partners and issues of domestic and national security. In this regard, the RCMP, under your leadership will serve of Canadians by:

• engaging with provinces, territories and municipalities that contract RCMP services to better connect the RCMP with community social support
• conducting an assessment of contract policing in consultation with provinces, territories, municipalities, Indigenous partners and stakeholders
• collaborating with provincial, territorial and Indigenous governments in the stabilization and expansion of the First Nations and Inuit Policing Program (FNIPP)
• improving the provision of federal and national policing services and supporting the establishment of a dedicated unit to investigate all forms of major financial crime
• collaborating with other authorities to combat cybercrimes, money laundering, human trafficking, child sexual exploitation, ideologically-inspired violent extremism, foreign interference and threats to Canada's democratic institutions
• continuing to support the work of the sexual assault review committees and victim support action plan
• support the implementation of measures to counter the smuggling of handguns and the implementation of a buyback program for prohibited firearms
• ensuring that the Management Advisory Board is fully supported as it takes on a greater oversight role

Victims of intimate partner violence deserve our protection. To that end, I am asking you to work with Chief Firearms Officers across Canada so that they respond without delay to calls from Canadians who have safety concerns about an individual who has access to firearms, and to work with police of jurisdiction to remove firearms quickly as needed.

Similarly, you must ensure the accurate and timely use of the Uniform Crime Reporting (UCR) scoring to support the Firearms Interest Police (FIP) system, by providing awareness and training on the importance of recording incidents involving dangerous behavior and firearms. This work will also involve implementing new procedures and educational tools in close partnership with community groups, women's shelters and organizations, academia and more.

To ensure we remain on track and are transparent with Canadians on the RCMP's progress, I require an annual report on the RCMP's progress in achieving these priorities.

I want to once again salute the significant progress made under your leadership. With your support, I know that the RCMP can continue to earn the trust of the people we both serve. I look forward to a productive and collaborative working relationship.

Yours sincerely,

The Honourable Marco Mendicino, P.C., M.P.