RCMP Between ‘Two Masters’ as Ottawa Battles Prairie Provinces on Gun Confiscation

Minister of Public Safety Marco Mendicino speaks at a news conference in Ottawa on Sept. 26, 2022. Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press

The RCMP is caught between Ottawa’s intention to seize firearms and the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, and Manitoba, which contract with the national police force but don’t want to use it to have the guns seized.

Two years ago, the federal government declared 1,500 previously legal guns illegal, and subsequently announced a buyback program whereby owners would be compensated for an assigned value of their forfeited guns.

That program, which involves RCMP officers confiscating firearms, is now in the process of being implemented, but Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro announced on Sept. 26 that the province will not be participating. The Saskatchewan and Manitoba governments followed suit two days later, saying they wouldn’t use local policing resources to enforce the initiative.

Retired RCMP officer Andrew Brooke says it’s unclear at this point whether Ottawa or the provincial governments will prevail.

“The provincial interpretation of the policing contracts now in place with the RCMP and the provinces do not appear to coincide with the position being adopted by Hon. Marco Mendicino, Minister of Public Safety. The stage appears set for a potentially epic battle over the pre-eminence of jurisdiction,” Brooke told The Epoch Times by email.

Alberta Justice Minister Tyler Shandro in a file photo. The Canadian Press/Todd Korol

Shandro said on Sept. 26 that Alberta pays over $750 million per year for the RCMP and that Article 23 of its Provincial Police Service Agreement (PPSA) gives Alberta leverage. The article lays out dispute mechanisms should the province disagree with how policing is carried out.

However, Carleton University criminology professor Darryl Davies says the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act has traditionally shut provinces out.

“The PPSAs have never addressed discipline, so that’s not included in a contract with the RCMP. And as a result, when RCMP are engaged in, shall we say, dubious use of force, or in situations where they have exceeded their authority, the provinces have been unable to hold them accountable for that,” Davies said.

“All those issues fall under the RCMP Act, so it has always been one of the sore spots for the provinces [which] have no control and accountability over the RCMP. While they provide a police service, the quality of that police service, if it’s abysmal, if it’s terrible, cannot be effectively addressed through that contract mechanism.”

He adds that if the provincial government exercises the PPSA resolution process and still faces firearms confiscation, they would “have the option of appealing it to the ombudsman for resolution.”

“If that fails, then they would be better grounded to pursue it in court,” Davies says.

The RCMP seized guns in High River, Alberta, during flooding in 2013. Residents returned to their homes to discover their guns were missing, and many expressed anger after finding out it was done by the police force.

Financial Considerations

Alberta has considered creating a provincial police force, which may temper how strongly Ottawa and RCMP National Headquarters insist on enforcing the law. Davies says the RCMP has had a “sullied” reputation in recent years, but financial considerations have led most provinces to keep the force.

A restricted gun licence holder holds a AR-15 at his home in Langley, B.C., on May 1, 2020. The Canadian Press/Jonathan Hayward

“The feds are picking up 70 percent of the cost of policing, so it’s always been economically advantageous to the provinces to maintain these PPSAs. But the question now is, at what cost? The provinces are responsible for the administration of justice, and that’s their constitutional right,” Davies said.

He notes that it may not be a matter of the Mounties simply enforcing the law.

“You‘ll probably find a lot of members within the RCMP that would also support the provinces. They’ll never do it publicly, but privately, will not want to enforce legislation that they know, in the communities in which they live, is going to be incredibly unpopular,” Davies said.

Former RCMP officer Larry Comeau, who retired after 36 years with the force, says “the RCMP finds itself answering to two masters” in the provincial-federal feud, but the clash between Ottawa and the citizens the force is called to protect is also in play.

“Trudeau has said Canadians do not need weapons for self-protection. Trudeau should try telling that to rural residents in Alberta and Saskatchewan who are many miles from an RCMP detachment and can wait lengthy periods for a response to a death threatening emergency. Those in these areas also require weapons to protect their livestock,” Comeau wrote by email.

The Epoch Times reached out to the Department of Public Safety but didn’t hear back by publication time.

In remarks to MPs at a House of Commons Public Safety Committee meeting on Oct. 4, Mendicino said he’s still focused on working with provinces for the buyback program.

“Advancing a fair buyback program that will compensate law-abiding gun owners for the assault-style rifles that they originally purchased lawfully is consistent with keeping our community safe, and we will always be collaborative with our provincial and territorial partners,” he said.

Lack of Resources

On Sept. 27, Christine Tell, Saskatchewan’s minister of corrections, policing, and public safety, wrote a letter to RCMP Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore saying that none of the $200 million the province pays the RCMP annually should be used to seize its residents’ guns.

On Sept. 28, Shandro posted to Twitter: “Neither the province or Alberta’s RCMP want police resources taken off the street in order to confiscate firearms.”

Leland Keane, a former RCMP officer who retired in 2019, told The Epoch Times that a lack of police resources is only one reason the seizure effort can’t work.

“They’ve been running on empty for the last easily 10 to 15 years. They just don’t have the people and the logistics to do it. It’s an impossible thing. They’re trying to get water out of a dry well. It’s just pure politics,” Keane said.