Departmental Results Report 2018-2019

Institutional Head's Message

I am pleased to present this 2018-19 Departmental Results Report for the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (Commission).

I was privileged to take on the role of Chairperson for the Commission in January 2019. Stabilizing the Commission's leadership was an important step in ensuring its effectiveness and ability to meet the growing demand for its services.

To that end, my focus since taking office has been to strengthen the Commission's fundamental functions.

Demand for the Commission's core services increased during the 2018-19 fiscal period. The Commission responded to over 2,980 public complaints, a 13% increase over the previous year. Requests for the review of the RCMP's handling of public complaints have increased by 18%, from 230 to 272. A total of 255 review reports were issued in the same period—also an increase over the previous year.

To respond to these increases, a restructuring of the Commission's Reviews Directorate and investments in its capacity were undertaken, which also contributed to a significant reduction of the review file backlog from previous years. Over the past ten months, the backlog has been reduced by 50%. At the current rate of completion, it is anticipated that the file backlog will be eliminated in the next nine months.

The Commission's investigative resources were reorganized into one team, to focus specialized in-house skills and capacity on priority investigations with the goal of improving the overall efficacy of investigations and reducing the time required to complete them.

Significant progress was made on several high-profile public interest investigations over the past year. In March 2019 the Commission completed its Interim Report into the RCMP's response to the shale gas protests in Kent County, New Brunswick. The report has been forwarded to the RCMP for response. The Commission's Interim Report on the RCMP's investigation of the death of Colten Boushie is expected to be delivered to the RCMP by the end of 2019.

The Commission's specified activity reviews of the RCMP's use of strip searches, street checks, crime reduction units, and the RCMP's Bias-Free Policing Model have also progressed well. It is anticipated that three of the four investigations will be completed by the end of the 2019-20 fiscal period. Additional information on these investigations is available on the Commission's website.

I have spent time strengthening key relationships with the senior management of the RCMP in Ottawa and across the country, in an effort to ensure open channels of communication that will allow both organizations to effectively respond to public complaints about the RCMP and its membership.

Fostering effective bilateral engagement with provincial and territorial stakeholders has also been a priority and has helped the Commission gain a broader understanding of the policing challenges in provinces and territories that contract for RCMP services. We have also met with community stakeholders in an effort to address real or perceived barriers that may prevent certain groups from using the public complaint process.

Finally, much has been done over the past year to provide Commission staff with a stable, respectful and supportive workplace that fosters the core values of the Public Service. I am confident that the Commission is well-positioned to meet its mandate and respond to any new challenges that may lie ahead.

Michelaine Lahaie
Chairperson

Results at a glance

For more information on the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP's plans, priorities and results achieved, see the “Results: what we achieved” section of this report.

Results: what we achieved

Programs

Civilian Review of RCMP members’ conduct in the performance of their duties

Description

The Commission is an independent agency created by Parliament to provide fair and independent civilian review of RCMP members' conduct in the performance of their duties. The Commission accomplishes this by receiving complaints from the public about the conduct of RCMP members, and monitoring the RCMP's investigation of such complaints. Where a complainant is not satisfied with the outcome of the RCMP's response to a complaint, a request can be made to the Commission for an independent review of the members' conduct and the RCMP's handling of the matter. In reviewing complaints, the Commission may find that it is satisfied with the RCMP's handling of the complaint, or it may make findings and recommendations to the RCMP Commissioner and the Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness with respect to matters addressed in the complaint. The Commission also has the mandate to conduct reviews of specified RCMP activities; report to provinces and territories which contract RCMP services; conduct research, program outreach and public education; and provide independent observers to investigations of serious incidents involving RCMP members.

Results

Results achieved

There was a significant increase in the demand for services associated to the Commission's core functions—receiving, processing and monitoring public complaints and independently reviewing RCMP public complaint investigations—during this reporting period.

In 2018-19, 2,988 public complaints were lodged against the RCMP, a 13% increase over the previous year. The Commission received 91% of these directly. The Commission met its service standard for processing public complaints and forwarding them to the RCMP in 94% of the cases.

In this same period, the Commission received 272 new requests for review of the RCMP's disposition of public complaints and issued 255 complaint review reports, which included 164 Satisfied Reports, 65 Interim Reports and 26 Final Reports. The RCMP Commissioner accepted 80% of the Commission's remedial recommendations and 84% of adverse Commission findings made in its various reports.

While the Commission's service standard for completion of Satisfied and Interim Reports within 120 days of receipt of all relevant materials from the RCMP was achieved in only 44% of cases, the 30-day standard for delivery of Final Reports was met in 88% of cases. It is important to note that over 50% of the backlogged review files were also completed in this same period.

In March 2019 the Commission completed its Chair-Initiated Complaint and Public Interest Investigation into the RCMP's response to the shale gas (fracking) protests in Kent County, New Brunswick, in 2013. This investigation, one of the largest ever undertaken by the Commission, examined a number of issues that are important to Indigenous communities and that arose as a result of the policing of protests that were largely attended by Indigenous demonstrators. The Commission's Interim Report has been forwarded to the RCMP for review and response.

Work on the Public Interest Investigation of the RCMP's handling of the death of Colten Boushie has progressed well over the past year, with over 40 interviews completed. Completion of the Commission's Interim Report is expected by the end of 2019.

Investigations into the RCMP's use of street checks, strip searches, and crime reduction units were completed in this period. Reports including findings and recommendations will be provided to the Minister and the Commissioner by the end of March 2020. Additional information on these investigations is available on the Commission's website.

Public education and stakeholder engagement activities continued to be a priority over the past year, with Commission outreach activities being conducted in every provincial and territorial jurisdiction. Stakeholders included RCMP divisional Commanding Officers, provincial government representatives responsible for policing and heads of provincial law enforcement oversight agencies.

The Commission met with Nunavut territorial MLAs and key government stakeholders to gain a better understanding of the unique policing challenges in the territory and identify opportunities to engage with communities in responding to their concerns.

The Commission's longstanding focus on the concerns of Indigenous communities continued, with its engagement with the Wet'suwet'en Herediatary Chiefs and the BC Civil Liberties Association, as well as the RCMP, to advance a proposed pilot project to informally resolve public complaints on Wet'suwet'en territories in British Columbia. The proposal offers an alternative to the current informal resolution process for complaints against the RCMP.

As the review body for Canada's largest and most diverse policing service, the Commission has continued its role in bringing the law enforcement oversight community of practice together to address the issues that shape the future of policing and police accountability mechanisms in Canada.

The Commission's Chairperson has pursued strategic engagement with other federal tribunal chairpersons and with the heads of other federal agencies in an effort to address common challenges and share solutions that would enhance service to the public.

*Note: Baseline to be established by RCMP Core Survey in 2021.

Information on the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP's lower-level programs is available in the GC InfoBase.^{Footnote i}

Internal Services

Description

Internal Services are those groups of related activities and resources that the federal government considers to be services in support of programs and/or required to meet corporate obligations of an organization. Internal Services refers to the activities and resources of the 10 distinct service categories that support Program delivery in the organization, regardless of the Internal Services delivery model in a department. The 10 service categories are: 

• Acquisition Management Services
• Communications Services
• Financial Management Services
• Human Resources Management Services
• Information Management Services, Information Technology Services
• Legal Services
• Material Management Services
• Management and Oversight Services
• Real Property Management Services

Results

The Commission continued to adjust its business processes and reallocate resources to ensure operational effectiveness and efficiency.
The Commission's employees are the backbone of its operations. Employee health and well-being is key to the Commission's success. Initiatives geared towards improving workplace health and safety has been a priority for the Commission in this reporting period.
Key results for this reporting period include:

• Ongoing upgrade of the Commission's IT infrastructure to ensure optimal functionality and efficiency and compliance with GOC standards.
• Continued refinement and integration of records management and case management systems and their application in all aspects of the complaint, review, and investigation processes.
• Review of organizational structure and human resources strategies to ensure an agile business structure that responds to operational needs with a particular focus on the timely completion of major investigations.
• The implementation of health and well-being initiatives that focus on workplace and employees.

Budgetary financial resources (dollars)

Analysis of trends in spending and human resources

Actual expenditures

Departmental spending trend graph

Text Version

Spending Trend (dollars)

	2016-2017	2017-2018	2018-2019	2019-2020	2020-2021	2021-2022
Statutory	845,762	830,983	875,325	995,753	901,598	898,639
Voted	8,190,190	9,190,848	9,010,004	9,700,400	8,284,989	9,264,156
Total	9,035,952	9,021,831	9,885,329	10,696,143	10,186,587	10,162,795

The Commission's expenditures and planned expenditures have remained stable.

Actual human resources

Expenditures by vote

For information on the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP's organizational voted and statutory expenditures, consult the Public Accounts of Canada 2018–2019.^{Footnote ii}

Government of Canada spending and activities

Information on the alignment of the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP's spending with the Government of Canada's spending and activities is available in the GC InfoBase.^{Footnote iii}

Financial statements and financial statements highlights

Financial Statements

Financial statements highlights

Supplementary information

Corporate information

Organizational profile

Appropriate minister[s]: The Honourable Ralph Goodale, P.C., M.P..

Institutional head: Michelaine Lahaie, Chairperson

Ministerial portfolio: Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness

Enabling instrument: Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act^{Footnote iv}

Year of incorporation / commencement: 2014

Other:

Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do

“Raison d'être, mandate and role: who we are and what we do” is available on the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP's website.

Operating context and key risks

Information on operating context and key risks is available on the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP's website.

Reporting framework

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Strategic Outcome and Program Alignment Architecture of record for 2017–18 are shown below.

1. Strategic Outcome: Public Confidence in the RCMP

• 1.1 Program: Civilian review of RCMP members' conduct in the performance of their duties
• Internal Services

Supporting information on lower-level programs

Supporting information on lower-level programs is available on the GC InfoBase.^{Footnote v}

Supplementary information tables

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police does not have any supplementary information tables.

Federal tax expenditures

The tax system can be used to achieve public policy objectives through the application of special measures such as low tax rates, exemptions, deductions, deferrals and credits. The Department of Finance Canada publishes cost estimates and projections for these measures each year in the Report on Federal Tax Expenditures.^{Footnote vi} This report also provides detailed background information on tax expenditures, including descriptions, objectives, historical information and references to related federal spending programs. The tax measures presented in this report are the responsibility of the Minister of Finance.

Organizational contact information

E-mail:
Media@crcc-ccetp.gc.ca

Telephone:
From anywhere in Canada: 1-800-665-6878
TTY: 1-866-432-5837

Fax:
613-952-8045

Mail:
P.O. Box 1722, Station B,
Ottawa, ON K1P 0B3

Web:
http://www.crcc-ccetp.gc.ca

Appendix: definitions

appropriation (crédit)
Any authority of Parliament to pay money out of the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

budgetary expenditures (dépenses budgétaires)
Operating and capital expenditures; transfer payments to other levels of government, organizations or individuals; and payments to Crown corporations.

Departmental Plan (plan ministériel)
A report on the plans and expected performance of an appropriated department over a three-year period. Departmental Plans are tabled in Parliament each spring.

Departmental Results Report (rapport sur les résultats ministériels)
A report on an appropriated department's actual accomplishments against the plans, priorities and expected results set out in the corresponding Departmental Plan.

experimentation (expérimentation)
Activities that seek to explore, test and compare the effects and impacts of policies, interventions and approaches, to inform evidence-based decision-making, by learning what works and what does not.

full-time equivalent (équivalent temps plein)
A measure of the extent to which an employee represents a full person-year charge against a departmental budget. Full-time equivalents are calculated as a ratio of assigned hours of work to scheduled hours of work. Scheduled hours of work are set out in collective greements.

gender-based analysis plus (GBA+) (analyse comparative entre les sexes plus [ACS+])
An analytical process used to help identify the potential impacts of policies, Programs and services on diverse groups of women, men and gender differences. We all have multiple identity factors that intersect to make us who we are; GBA+ considers many other identity factors, such as race, ethnicity, religion, age, and mental or physical disability.

government-wide priorities (priorités pangouvernementales)
For the purpose of the 2018–19 Departmental Results Report, those high-level themes outlining the government's agenda in the 2015 Speech from the Throne, namely: Growth for the Middle Class; Open and Transparent Government; A Clean Environment and a Strong Economy; Diversity is Canada's Strength; and Security and Opportunity.

horizontal initiative (initiative horizontale)
An initiative where two or more departments are given funding to pursue a shared outcome, often linked to a government priority.

Management, Resources and Results Structure (structure de gestion, des ressources et des résultats)
A comprehensive framework that consists of an organization's inventory of programs, resources, results, performance indicators and governance information. Programs and results are depicted in their hierarchical relationship to each other and to the Strategic Outcome(s) to which they contribute. The Management, Resources and Results Structure is developed from the Program Alignment Architecture.

non-budgetary expenditures (dépenses non budgétaires)
Net outlays and receipts related to loans, investments and advances, which change the composition of the financial assets of the Government of Canada.

performance (rendement)
What an organization did with its resources to achieve its results, how well those results compare to what the organization intended to achieve, and how well lessons learned have been identified.

performance indicator (indicateur de rendement)
A qualitative or quantitative means of measuring an output or outcome, with the intention of gauging the performance of an organization, program, policy or initiative respecting expected results.

performance reporting (production de rapports sur le rendement)
The process of communicating evidence-based performance information. Performance reporting supports decision making, accountability and transparency.

plan (plan)
The articulation of strategic choices, which provides information on how an organization intends to achieve its priorities and associated results. Generally a plan will explain the logic behind the strategies chosen and tend to focus on actions that lead up to the expected result.

planned spending (dépenses prévues)
For Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports, planned spending refers to those amounts that receive Treasury Board approval by February 1. Therefore, planned spending may include amounts incremental to planned expenditures presented in the Main Estimates.

A department is expected to be aware of the authorities that it has sought and received. The determination of planned spending is a departmental responsibility, and departments must be able to defend the expenditure and accrual numbers presented in their Departmental Plans and Departmental Results Reports.

priority (priorité)
A plan or project that an organization has chosen to focus and report on during the planning period. Priorities represent the things that are most important or what must be done first to support the achievement of the desired Strategic Outcome(s) or Departmental Results.

program (programme)
Individual or groups of services, activities or combinations thereof that are managed together within the department and focus on a specific set of outputs, outcomes or service levels.

Program Alignment Architecture (architecture d'alignement des programmes)
A structured inventory of an organization's programs depicting the hierarchical relationship between programs and the Strategic Outcome(s) to which they contribute.

result (résultat)
An external consequence attributed, in part, to an organization, policy, program or initiative. Results are not within the control of a single organization, policy, program or initiative; instead they are within the area of the organization's influence.

statutory expenditures (dépenses législatives)
Expenditures that Parliament has approved through legislation other than appropriation acts. The legislation sets out the purpose of the expenditures and the terms and conditions under which they may be made.

Strategic Outcome (résultat stratégique)
A long-term and enduring benefit to Canadians that is linked to the organization's mandate, vision and core functions.

target (cible)
A measurable performance or success level that an organization, program or initiative plans to achieve within a specified time period. Targets can be either quantitative or qualitative.

voted expenditures (dépenses votées)
Expenditures that Parliament approves annually through an Appropriation Act. The Vote wording becomes the governing conditions under which these expenditures may be made.