Annual Report 2024-2025

Vision, Mission, Mandate and Strategic Objectives

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (the CRCC) is an agency of the federal government, distinct and independent from the RCMP.

VISION: The CRCC will become the national leader for independent review of policing activities through the provision of a relevant, timely and transparent complaint process.

MISSION: Deliver a robust complaint process which holds the RCMP accountable for its activities and the conduct of its members.

MANDATE: As set out in Parts VI and VII of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act, the mandate of the Commission is to:

• receive complaints from the public about the conduct of RCMP members
• conduct reviews when complainants are not satisfied with the RCMP's handling of their complaints
• initiate complaints and investigations into RCMP conduct when it is in the public interest to do so
• review specified RCMP activities
• report findings and make recommendations; and
• promote public awareness of the complaint process

The Complaint & Review Process

Enhanced Accountability

In addition to accepting complaints about the duty-related conduct of RCMP members from individuals and reviewing the RCMP's investigation if the individual is not satisfied with the RCMP's handling of their complaint, the CRCC has two broad powers that enhance RCMP accountability: initiating a complaint and conducting systemic reviews of RCMP activities.

Chairperson-Initiated Complaints

If the Chairperson is satisfied that there are reasonable grounds to investigate the conduct of RCMP member(s), they may initiate a complaint. As with a complaint filed by a member of the public, these complaints may be forwarded to the RCMP for investigation.

If, however, the Chairperson determines that it is not in the interest of the public for the RCMP to investigate a complaint, the CRCC investigates the complaint. This applies to complaints made by the public as well as Chair-initiated complaints.

RCMP Arrest and Detention of Neurodiverse Alberta Teen (ongoing)

In November 2022, the Chairperson initiated a complaint regarding the arrest and detention of a neurodiverse youth by RCMP members in Alberta.

The RCMP's investigation is examining if, among other things:

• reasonable steps were taken to prevent the youth from self-harming
• training is provided to members on recognizing and interacting with neurodiverse people
• the RCMP has national and divisional policies, procedures and guidelines pertaining to interactions with people with neurodiversity

The RCMP's investigation was paused while the Alberta Serious Incident Response Team (ASIRT) conducted a criminal investigation into the RCMP members' conduct.

In March 2024, ASIRT released its decision into the matter, noting that it had found reasonable grounds to believe that an offence may have been committed by one or more RCMP members.

However, the Alberta Crown Prosecution Service declined to pursue charges against the RCMP members.

This decision allowed the RCMP to complete its investigation and in May 2024, the RCMP delivered its report to the CRCC.

After receiving the RCMP's report, the Chairperson determined that the CRCC would conduct a review of her complaint and the RCMP's report, and requested all materials that the RCMP gathered and prepared during its investigation.

In June 2024, the CRCC decided to investigate the Chairperson's complaint further. As part of its investigation the CRCC is gathering more information, including submissions from the youth's family, and relevant subject matter experts.

Upon completion of its further investigation, the CRCC will issue a report to the RCMP containing its findings and any recommendations it sees fit. Following the RCMP's response to this report, the CRCC will publicly issue its final report into the matter.

RCMP Handling of Sexual Assault and Threats to the Safety of Nova Scotia Woman (ongoing)

In June 2022, the CRCC initiated a complaint into the RCMP's handling of the sexual assault and threats to the safety of Ms. Susan Butlin of Bayhead, Nova Scotia, now deceased.

The CRCC's investigation examined, among other things:

• the circumstances leading up to Ms. Butlin's death
• whether any myths or stereotypes about sexual assault influenced the response of RCMP members
• the implementation by the RCMP of recent initiatives to improve sexual assault investigations
• the adequacy of supervision, policies, procedures, and training pertaining to sexual assault investigations

In June 2024, the CRCC issued its Interim Report containing 72 findings and 79 recommendations. In July 2024, the RCMP Commissioner informed the CRCC that, due to the number of recommendations and the complexity of the issues, additional time would be required to review and respond to the CRCC's Interim Report.

In April 2025, the CRCC received the Commissioner's response and is reviewing the RCMP's response.

To learn more about these investigations, visit the Ongoing Investigations page on the CRCC website.

Systemic Investigations

The CRCC has the authority to conduct reviews of specified RCMP activities to ensure that they comply with legislation, regulation, ministerial direction, or RCMP policies, procedures or guidelines.

The RCMP "E" Division Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG)

Launched in March 2023, this systemic investigation examines the effectiveness of C-IRG's governance and command structure, as well as whether C-IRG operations were carried out in accordance with legal standards, policy requirements, and leading practices.

More information about this systemic investigation is available on the CRCC website.

Status of the Investigation

• The CRCC continues to review materials and records received from the RCMP, including tens of thousands of documents, videos and images
• Interviews with RCMP members are ongoing

Findings and Recommendations

Following a review, if the CRCC is not satisfied with the RCMP's handling of a public complaint, the CRCC will issue a report outlining findings and any recommendations directed at the RCMP. RCMP responses to the CRCC's reports outline which of the CRCC's findings have been accepted and what remedial measures are being actioned to address CRCC recommendations. In 2024-25, the RCMP agreed with significant findings and recommendations put forward by the CRCC following reviews of individual public complaints, and committed to improving policies, procedures, and systems in the following areas:

Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG) and policing of protests*

• The RCMP will develop national guidance for the enforcement of civil injunctions that is consistent with the state of the law. In its review of a complaint, the CRCC found that the RCMP's use of broad exclusion zones to enforce a civil injunction was unreasonable, inconsistent with previous court rulings, and inconsistent with individuals' right against unreasonable search and seizure and their common law right to move freely. (24-144)
• The RCMP will revise its Uniform and Dress Manual and develop specific policies to state that, subject to exceptional cases such as undercover RCMP members, name tags may only be removed where an alternate system for visually distinguishing and identifying RCMP members is in place. In its review of a complaint, the CRCC found that the removal of name tags by RCMP members, without an alternate way to identify them visually, was unreasonable and negatively impacted the ability to hold police accountable when needed. (24‑023)

*This relates to the CRCC's review of an individual public complaint, and not the ongoing systemic investigation concerning the C-IRG.

Disclosure in the public complaint process

• The RCMP directed the divisional professional responsibility unit to take steps to ensure that adequate procedures are in place to satisfy disclosure obligations in the public complaint process. The CRCC expressed concern with significant delays on the part of the RCMP in providing relevant materials to the CRCC during its review of an RCMP complaint investigation, highlighting the importance of timeliness in civilian oversight. (24-127)

Operational Communication Centres

• The RCMP will take immediate steps to ensure that staffing vacancies amongst call takers and dispatchers at RCMP Operational Communication Centres are filled on a permanent basis, and that adequate positions are established to ensure a manageable workload and healthy workplace. In its review of a case, the CRCC highlighted significant challenges caused by low staffing levels at RCMP. (24-190)

Summaries of the CRCC Reviewed Public Complaints are available on the CRCC website.  

Monitoring of the Implementation Status of Recommendations to the RCMP

The RCMP sends biannual updates to the CRCC regarding the implementation of CRCC recommendations.

Since FY 2020-21, the RCMP has supported 1,265 of the CRCC's recommendations. Of those:

• 944 have been implemented by the RCMP
• 51 could not be implemented despite being supported**
• 64 remain outstanding
• 206 have an unknown status

The status of each CRCC recommendation that the RCMP has committed to implementing is available on the RCMP website.

**The majority of these could not be implemented because the individual who filed the complaint had passed away or the RCMP member had retired, resigned or was on long-term leave with no expected return to work date.

Year in Review

Service Standards

The CRCC and the RCMP have an Operational Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) setting out, among other things, service standards aimed at providing the public with timely reports into concerns about RCMP member conduct.

The full terms of the MOU and the CRCC's Service Standards are available on the CRCC website.

Public Complaint Process	Service Standard	Results
The CRCC forwards public complaints it receives to the RCMP	10 business days from the date the CRCC receives all the information necessary to determine if the complaint meets the criteria set out in s. 45.53 of the RCMP Act	71% of complaints were sent to the RCMP within the 10-day service standard
The RCMP investigates and delivers a report to the complainant	The RCMP has an internal service standard* of 120 days. *This standard is not part of the MOU	57%* of complaint investigations were finalized within the RCMP's internal service standard *This statistic is based on information the CRCC received from the RCMP
Review Process
After receiving a complaint review request, the CRCC notifies the RCMP and requests relevant materials	10 days	80% of requests for review were sent to the RCMP within the 10-day service standard
The CRCC conducts its review and issues either: a Satisfied Report an Interim Report	120 business days from the date the CRCC receives the relevant materials from the RCMP and the individual who files the complaint	41% of CRCC Satisfied & Interim reports were completed within the 120-day service standard
The RCMP responds to the CRCC Interim Report	Within 6 months	95% were received within the 6-month service standard
The CRCC issues its Final Report	30 business days after the CRCC receives the RCMP Commissioner's Response	94% of CRCC Final reports were delivered within the 30-day service standard
In 2024-25, the RCMP provided 57 responses to CRCC Interim reports.

Public Complaints

4,934 public complaints were filed

3,069 were sent to the RCMP for investigation

1,745 did not meet the criteria set out in Part VII of the RCMP Act

120 were still under assessment at fiscal year-end to determine if they meet the criteria set out in Part VII of the RCMP Act

Public Complaints – Five-year Trend

The numbers presented in the table below reflect updates to complaint statistics from previous years.

*The number of complaints received and accepted for 2023-24 has increased since last year's Annual Report due to complaints still under assessment at fiscal year-end having now been assessed.

Text Version

Public Complaints Canada-Wide

	2020-2021	2021-2022	2022-2023	2023-2024*	2024-2025
Total # of complaints received	3382	4060	4273	4522	4934
Total # of complaints accepted	2296	2633	2853	3202	3069

The breakdown of public complaints filed by RCMP division is available on the CRCC website.

In 2024-25, the 1,745 complaints that were not sent for investigation included:

• Complaints that are outside of the CRCC's jurisdiction**: 1,257
• Complaints that are trivial, frivolous, vexatious or made in bad faith: 171
• Complaints filed outside the one-year time limit: 73
• Complaints from an individual who was not directly involved and/or was not physically present during the incident: 185
• Complaints that are more appropriately dealt with under other Acts of Parliament (e.g. privacy, human rights, official languages): 43
• Complaints related to RCMP Code of Conduct (discipline) decisions: 4
• Complaints made by RCMP member(s) that could be more appropriately dealt with under another process: 3
• Complaints related to national security: 9

**This includes complaints made about non-RCMP police officers

Of the 4,934 public complaints that were filed, 98% were filed with the CRCC and 2% were filed with the RCMP

Public Complaints Related to National Security

Section 45.53(4.1) of the RCMP Act states:

The Commission shall refuse to deal with a complaint concerning an activity that is closely related to national security and shall refer such a complaint to the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency (NSIRA).

Public Complaints Referred to the NSIRA

Text Version

• 2024-25: 9
• 2023-24: 2
• 2022-23: 2
• 2021-22: 6
• 2020-21: 2

Strategic Initiatives

Multiple Complaint Subject Member Project

As part of its ongoing effort to hold the RCMP accountable for its activities and the conduct of its members, the CRCC reviewed existing complaint data from April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2024, to identify RCMP members who were the subject of multiple complaints.

A qualitative analysis was performed on members who were the subject of five or more complaints within this period to identify potential trends in their conduct.

The CRCC identified 532* members who were the subject of five or more complaints over the period.

* This number is smaller than in previous years, as the analysis no longer includes complaints that were refused by the CRCC.

As part of this project, the CRCC highlighted members whose conduct was of particular concern.

Areas of concern that could prompt a member to be part of this list include, but are not limited to:

• an exceptionally high number of complaints received
• allegations of use of force causing serious injury (including incidents referred to provincial serious incident units); and
• trends of racial bias

The CRCC's analysis highlighted the following:

• 32 of the 532 members who were the subject of five or more complaints over the period of April 1, 2019, to March 31, 2024, were identified as members of particular concern
• 11 of the 129 members who were the subject of three or more complaints within a one-year time frame (April 1, 2023, to March 31, 2024) were identified as members of particular concern

Noteworthy allegations included:

• Improper use of force during arrests
• Failure to conduct a wellness check
• Persistent display of improper attitude during traffic incidents
• Bias, discrimination and/or racism
• Improper investigation
• Abuse of authority

The CRCC provides Multiple Complaint Subject Member reports to the RCMP annually for its awareness and whatever action deemed necessary.

Implementation of Bias Category

On April 1, 2024, following the CRCC's review into the RCMP's bias-free policing model, a new public complaint allegation category of "Bias" was introduced.

This category is used in public complaints alleging that actions, inactions or decisions made by a member resulted in the inequitable treatment of a person or group.

Of the 9,556 allegations contained in the finalized complaints received by the CRCC in 2024-25, 113 (1%) were categorized as "Bias."

The Bias allegations were resolved as follows*:

*Total percentages are 101% due to rounding

The CRCC will continue to monitor the implementation of this allegation.

Additional information on the CRCC's Review of the RCMP's Bias-Free Policing Model can be found on the CRCC's website.

Transition to the Public Complaints and Review Commission

On October 31, 2024, Bill C-20 , An Act establishing the Public Complaints and Review Commission, was granted royal assent. The Public Complaints and Review Commission (PCRC) will replace the existing CRCC as an independent complaints and review body for both the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA). 

The CRCC is working collaboratively with Public Safety Canada, the RCMP and the CBSA in anticipation of this transition. Current efforts are focused on the development of policies, regulations and rules of procedure, public education and outreach plans, and a strategy for collecting and reporting on race-based and demographic data.

Collection of Demographic and Race-Based Data

In preparation for the transition to the PCRC, the CRCC is developing its demographic data collection program, including:

• Development of policies and access rules to ensure the safety of the data, and the privacy of the complainants
• Development of public outreach and education materials, including FAQs and supplementary documents outlining the informed consent and consent withdrawal process
• Development of collection practices, including survey format, variables collected and variable uses

Heads of Police Oversight Agencies Annual Meeting

This annual event hosted by the CRCC provides a forum for provincial complaint agencies and serious incident investigative agencies to address issues of mutual concern, discuss how to better share information, and collaborate on improving public awareness of the role of police oversight agencies.

In 2024-25, the agencies discussed:

• Embedding Indigenous cultural competence in police oversight
• Enhancing organizational effectiveness
• Police accountability and independence
• Current trends, including the future of policing
• Strengthening cooperation and collaboration across agencies

Canadian Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (CACOLE)

The Canadian Association of Civilian Oversight of Law Enforcement (CACOLE) is a national non-profit organization involved in the oversight of police officers in Canada. CACOLE is dedicated to advancing the concept, principles and application of civilian oversight of law enforcement throughout Canada and abroad.

In 2025, CACOLE will host its annual conference in Fredericton, New Brunswick, bringing together representatives from federal and provincial government, police boards, law enforcement, academia, police oversight agencies and the legal community, to discuss common policing issues and concerns.

To learn more about CACOLE, please visit the website.

Transparency and Accountability

Public Complaint Reviews: Searchable Findings & Recommendations

CRCC reports outline which of its findings the RCMP has accepted and what remedial measures the RCMP is taking to address them.

In order to promote awareness of the work of the CRCC, and to highlight the remedial nature of the public complaint and review process, the CRCC publishes depersonalized* numbered summaries of reports on its website. These include public complaint review reports where the CRCC:

• is satisfied with the RCMP's handling of a public complaint; or
• has issued recommendations for the RCMP

These summaries can be searched by:

* To protect the privacy of individuals who file complaints

Provincial/Territorial Reports on RCMP Public Complaints

In addition to its annual report to Parliament, the CRCC, per section 45.52(2) of the RCMP Act, is required to submit an annual report to the minister who has primary responsibility for policing in the province or territory, the federal Minister of Public Safety, and the RCMP Commissioner.

The reports must include:

• The number of public complaints filed by RCMP division
• How each complaint allegation was resolved*
  • Substantiated by RCMP
  • Not Substantiated by RCMP
  • Informally Resolved by RCMP
  • Terminated by RCMP
  • Withdrawn by complainant
• Identification of trends, if any

Currently, these reports also include a breakdown of the number of public complaints reviewed by the CRCC and whether it issued:

• a satisfied report
• a report with findings and recommendations
• the types of recommendations issued
• whether or not the RCMP supported the recommendation

The Provincial / Territorial Reports on RCMP Public Complaints are published on the CRCC's website.

*Public complaints may contain one or more allegation. A full list of allegations is available on the website.

Administration of the Public Complaint Process

To ensure transparency of the public complaint process, related CRCC policies and agreements are published on the website. These include:

• Policy on the Discretion to Change or Restrict Access to Staff or Services due to Unreasonable Complainant Behaviour
• Policy on the Discretion to Refuse to Deal with a Complaint
• Policy on the Extension of the Time Limit to Submit a Complaint to the CRCC
• Policy on the Closing of Public Complaint due to Incomplete Information
• Memorandum of Understanding between the CRCC and the RCMP
• Memorandum of Understanding between the CRCC and Independent Investigations Office of British Columbia (IIO)

Organizational Chart

The CRCC consists of a full-time Chairperson and not more than four other full-time or part-time members, one of whom may be a Vice-chairperson, appointed by the Governor in Council.

A person is not eligible to be a member of the CRCC if that person:

• is a member or former member of the RCMP; or
• is not a Canadian citizen or a permanent resident

In 2024-25, the CRCC's senior management team was comprised of: