By Nicole Hunt
The recent release of video of Robert Dziekanski’s death after being tasered by RCMP at a Vancouver airport has stacked yet another scandal on an institution already faltering in the public eye.
Paul Kennedy, head of the RCMP Commission for Public Complaints, is concerned that the incident is damaging the bond between the public and the RCMP. Commissioner William J. S. Elliot released a statement that expresses worry about the effectiveness of the force if “growing misperceptions are eroding the public’s confidence in the RCMP.”
And if the RCMP brass is willing to admit that there may be a problem, there almost certainly is.
The Canadian public has been bombarded with reports of RCMP incompetence, wrongdoing and outright corruption in a number of scandals over the years: Dziekanski’s death, the Maher Arar affair, APEC and the Air India bombing, to name a few recent ones, as well as a procession of internal inquiries that have resulted in little, if any, punishment for anyone involved.
The taser incident has led to calls for everything from a moratorium on taser use, to outright banning of the device, to the full-out disbandment of the RCMP.
Critical examination of RCMP practices is, obviously, necessary and apparently rather urgently needed. Public distrust of the Mounties will simply increase with every new scandal; though an investigation into Dziekanski’s death is still in progress, the video footage has already sparked calls for criminal charges, which means anything less will be seen as yet another slap-on-the-wrist punishment.
If news reports, YouTube footage and Facebook groups are any indication, one might expect the sheer level of public contempt for the RCMP to translate into profound disrespect for officers wearing the red tunic.
Instead, Canadian disgust and disdain lies with the RCMP as an institution – where it should – and not with RCMP officers individually.
In fact, Canadians appear to have a tremendous amount of respect for RCMP officers, with thousands turning out to mourn at the funerals of Const. Douglas Scott and Const. Christopher Worden, both killed in the line of duty in northern Canada in the past two months.
Hundreds of strangers from across the country, who had never met the officers, sent their condolences to families through the RCMP website or Facebook groups that sprang up mere hours after the deaths were reported. Family members were astounded by the outpouring of emotion and the feeling that the national community was coming together to grieve.
Public support is not limited to fallen officers, however. A recent Ipsos Reid poll, done after the release of the taser video, showed 75-per-cent support among Canadians for “rank-and-file” RCMP officers.
Simple and obvious as it may seem, this distinction is important.
Even in situations where the public has disagreed with the actions of individual officers – including in Dziekanski’s death – there is often widespread recognition among Canadians that these officers were following RCMP protocol. The problem, then, lies frequently with RCMP policy as opposed to those following it.
In a country accustomed to mismanagement and corruption in all walks of political life, it is important for Canadians to be able to distinguish between the shortcomings of an institution’s bureaucracy and the day-to-day work of its employees.
Should Canadians begin to confuse the actions of RCMP senior management with their neighbourhood officers, Elliot will be right to worry.