Mendicino Testifies on Bill That Would Create Independent Review Body for RCMP, CBSA

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino speaks in the Foyer of the House of Commons in Ottawa on April 26, 2023. (The Canadian Press/Adrian Wyld)

Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino testified Tuesday on a bill that would address anti-black and anti-indigenous racism in policing and the justice system by establishing an independent review body for the RCMP and the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA).

Mendicino said Bill C-20, which was tabled in the House of Commons on June 21, 2022, will establish the Public Complaints and Review Commission (PCRC) as an independent civilian review body for the RCMP and CBSA. He noted that the CBSA, which interacts with over 100 million people every year, is the only enforcement agency in the public safety portfolio without any external independent review.

“We know that racialized and indigenous Canadians are vastly overrepresented in prisons interact more frequently with law enforcement, and are disproportionately subjected to bias and even profiling,” Mendicino told the standing committee on public safety and national security.

“As representatives of our constituents and a voice for all Canadians, we have a duty to address these legacies and that is precisely why we have tabled Bill C-20.”

Mendicino said Bill C-20 would establish the Public Complaints and Review Commission (PCRC) as an independent civilian review body for the RCMP and CBSA. He noted that the CBSA, which interacts with over 100 million people every year, is the only enforcement agency in the public safety portfolio without any external independent review.

“Oversight and review is long overdue for this organization. C-20 would close that long-standing gap through the PCRC complainants would now have access to an external body that could independently initiate a review and investigate CBSA conduct,” Mendicino said.

The PCRC would review and investigate any flagged, non-national security RCMP activity and report its findings and recommendations to the RCMP commissioner, he said.

Mendicino said the bill would also enact a requirement for the PCRC to implement public education and information programs to raise public awareness of the commission’s mandate and individual rights to redress, as well as impose a new authority to recommend that the RCMP commissioner and CBSA president initiate disciplinary proceedings or impose measures.

He noted that the introduction of C-20 responded to the findings of the Mass Casualty Commission created after the 2020 Nova Scotia Massacre, which recommended the creation of more transparent reporting for federal law enforcement agencies.

“There’s still a lot of work to do to respond to the Commission’s final report, but we have shown our commitment to create change,” he said.

Mendicino said Bill C-20 will also enact the collection of disaggregated, race-based data in order to identify trends and address what he claimed is “entrenched systemic racism” within Canada’s institutions.

According to an internal CBSA report from 2022, one-quarter of front-line employees surveyed in March 2020 said they had directly witnessed a colleague discriminate against a traveller in the previous two years, while 71 percent of those respondents said the discrimination was based on race.

In response to a question by Liberal MP Taleeb Noormohamed, Mendicino said the collection of the data will help the RCMP and CBSA to identify not only “where those issues linger, but whether or not we’re making progress.” He said this will help to reduce systemic barriers so that “everyone is treated equally and fairly.”

Tory MPs Question Review Body’s Independence

Conservative MP Glen Motz asked Mendicino how the PCRC would differ from the current civilian process and how the commission would have the capacity to handle all the complaints. He questioned whether the RCMP and CBSA would still be required to investigate their own members for issues such as inappropriate comments or attitudes, which he considered less significant than instances of improper use of force.

Mendicino responded that legislation represents a “marked departure” from the current system, creating an enhanced external review process for the agencies while also giving more transparency around “timelines and turnarounds for the processing of complaints.”

Conservative MP and shadow public safety minister Raquel Dancho said the National Police Federation expressed concerns that Bill C-20 would not make the commission fully independent from RCMP officers, meaning police officers would continue to have to investigate their colleagues when complaints are made.

Mendicino said that the provincial disciplinary processes should not be seen as being mutually exclusive to the work of the PCRC.

“What this creation of this commission does, is it gives Canadians yet another avenue in which they can submit complaints to this commission, which will be made up of independent civilian members who will then look into the conduct and then make recommendations that could touch on discipline,” he said.