Alberta’s RCMP chief says a proposal by the provincial government to form its own police service is a distraction and harmful to its members. Deputy Commissioner Curtis Zablocki said the potential move has been hanging over the agency’s head for nearly two years and is having an impact. “Frankly it’s been very disruptive and distracting to all of our employees. Our staff is worried about their future and the future of their partners and their families,” Zablocki told The Canadian Press. “I will say it has affected the morale of the Alberta RCMP as well and I will say it has also affected the trust and confidence that we see from our communities in those relationships, which is very critical.” The United Conservative Party government recently outlined its plan for more police in rural Alberta. Under the plan, 275 front-line police officers would be added to the 42 smaller detachments. As it stands, said Justice Minister Tyler Shandro, there is no minimum number of officers in RCMP detachments. He said a police force built in Alberta would provide better policing for all areas, including improved response times with the use of community detachments and larger hubs. But Zablocki said the Alberta government’s proposed model is very close to what the RCMP already provides with its roughly 3,500 members. He said the support from the public, as well as most municipalities, shows how much the RCMP is respected and hopes Albertans will have a say in any final decision, but stopped short of calling for a referendum. “Their positions on this should be the most important consideration of any decision,” Zablocki said. Earlier this year, Alberta’s Rural Municipalities said they supported keeping the RCMP and opposed the idea of a provincial police force because the government failed to demonstrate how it would increase service levels in rural areas. Alberta Municipalities, formerly known as the Association of Alberta Urban Municipalities, also raised concerns about the cost, whether there was sufficient consultation and whether the idea was driven by real public safety needs rather than politics. An Alberta government webinar Monday on the future of policing in the province featured experts who supported the idea of replacing the RCMP. Richard Fadden, former director of the Canadian Security Intelligence Service and national security adviser to the prime minister, said he doesn’t believe a long-standing organization like the RCMP can provide the full range of police services Canadians expect in the future. He said the main problem is that although the provinces are responsible for policing, the RCMP takes its orders from Ottawa. “It doesn’t matter who provides the service – the province carries the can. I think the example of what’s happening in Nova Scotia in terms of investigating mass shootings is a good example of that,” Fadden said, referring to the investigation into the 13-hour shooting rampage in April 2020 that resulted in 22 murders. “It confuses accountability at a time when things like this are much more important than they were 30 or 40 years ago.” Former British Columbia attorney general Wally Oppal said the public is demanding more accountability from police forces, especially in an age where every major event is captured on cell phone video. He said that’s not the case with the RCMP, which takes its orders from Ottawa. “Policing is too important to be left to the police. I think the RCMP should be held accountable to the provincial oversight provisions, but we know that’s not going to happen,” Oppal said. “For that reason, I think Alberta is on the right track to creating its own police force.” The Alberta government is deciding its next steps after releasing a third-party analysis last fall of the proposal for a provincial Alberta police force to replace the RCMP in rural areas and some smaller towns.
