The Recruitment Paradox: Identity Politics Virus Hits the RCMP

RCMP officers march at the funeral for slain RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang, in Richmond, B.C., on Nov. 2, 2022. The Canadian Press/Darryl Dyck

Commentary

The RCMP has faced many challenges in recent years, a major one being that its recruitment objectives have fallen short of expectations.

Instead of striving to recruit the best candidates, the force favours the governing coalition’s obsession with diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).

Its hiring strategy is akin to that of a school board in Toronto or Vancouver. As many of us are aware, the education sector is the most afflicted by social experiments. This holds true for schools, colleges, and universities. And when a schoolteacher leads a government, the outcome shouldn’t surprise us.

Take for example the RCMP’s recruitment directives:

“The RCMP is looking to increase diversity amongst applicants and cadets by modernizing its screening tools to promote diversity and ensure candidates have the characteristics and attributes for future police workforce needs. This includes screening for bias, racism and discriminatory attitudes and beliefs. We will also increase diversity amongst proactive recruiters, to better represent the diversity we seek to attract.”

On Feb. 12, the force posted on X about a cadet recruitment program for students “who identify as women”:

“We’re looking for high school students in grade 11 who identify as women. If that’s you and you’re curious about a career in public safety, we have a full week’s worth of paid work for you! Registration closes in 2 weeks,” the post said.

The same DEI virus has made its way into the federal bureaucracy and organizations such as the courts and the Armed Forces. These are the folks receiving tampons in men’s toilets within federal buildings.

The RCMP’s missteps are many.

Ten years ago, the credibility of the force took a considerable blow after their destructive expedition following the flooding in High River, Alberta, where officers entered homes to seize firearms. Moving closer to the present, the disarray following the September 2022 attacks on the James Smith Cree Nation and in Weldon, Saskatchewan, left everyone questioning the competence of the RCMP. A gruesome ordeal that cost 11 lives and left 18 severely injured drew attention to the ill-preparedness of the force.

Worse still, the Nova Scotia massacre, which occurred two years prior to this, was another reminder of the inadequacies within the force. The subsequent inquiry revealed a force bereft of leadership and willing to put itself in the political service of the current government. The absence of a federal task force to address the ongoing menace of country-wide attacks on over 100 churches in the past two years shows signs of political meddling.

It is these and other blunders, and the surrender to external political agendas divorced from policing, that have affected RCMP morale and the public perception of the Mounties.

From 2020 to 2021, the RCMP dropped 10 percent in public safety satisfaction, trust and confidence, and perceptions of professionalism. These public sentiments “were at the lowest levels since the RCMP started reporting the results of their national client surveys in 2003.”

Not surprisingly, the RCMP has been experiencing difficulties in recruitment. It failed to meet recruitment targets for 2020 by nearly 20 percent. It blames“ a supposed ”declining interest in policing,” but an increase in the RCMP exit and retirement rates points in a different direction. Attrition rates are double what they were a decade ago.

The shortage of new blood with an accompanying personnel hemorrhaging are adding to a demoralized workforce.

Data shows about a third of RCMP members lack confidence in the senior leadership and its management. The RCMP also believes that “systemic racism and harassment in the ranks are depressing recruitment.“ However, despite ”inclusion” efforts, 70 percent of RCMP members reported feeling that the organization does not adequately address issues of discrimination and harassment, and in the last five years, the force has seen a 200 percent increase in complaints related to discrimination and harassment.

Something else is going on. The RCMP might find solutions to its troubles if it finds leadership interested in excellence in policing.

How does the RCMP plan to boost its female recruit target to 30 percent by 2025 when males identifying as women compete in the same recruitment category? How does this tactic contribute to improving the low morale among staff? The irony here is that the RCMP has grappled for decades to improve its treatment of women officers. Sadly, adopting a policy to replace women with men who identify as women achieves the opposite. Moreover, the gap in honesty and integrity Canadians perceive won’t be narrowed through the unscientific ideological falsehood that men can be women.

The RCMP’s social experiments are producing the opposite of what they state. The force needs to be liberated from the clutches of careerist bureaucrats exclusively interested in their political advancement. It should concentrate on encouraging capable officers to focus on key policing competencies.

It is crucial that leaders return to the RCMP’s original purpose and high-standing policing. To do any less is a betrayal of its mandate and proud tradition.

Views expressed in this article are opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.