OTTAWA—The Conservative government says there won’t be any new money for the RCMP to encourage more women to enter, remain in and move up through its ranks.Public Safety Minister Vic Toews told reporters Tuesday he expected the Mounties to deliver by the end of the day a new action plan to respond to a gender bias analysis that showed barriers to the advancement of women in the force.
In his first extensive comments on the issue since his letter to RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson three weeks ago, Toews made clear the problem must be addressed within the $2.9 billion in federal funds already allocated to the RCMP.
Tuesday was the deadline the minister gave Paulson to rewrite the RCMP’s response to the findings of a gender audit, after the Mounties initially failed to offer a credible plan.
He said the RCMP “is a very large organization; there’s often money that can be identified for certain purposes which may not be used at the present time” that could be redirected.
Toews pointed to programs “designed to encourage, for example, recruitment,” and wondered whether the RCMP’s “advertising or the recruitment drive (should) change its focus.”
“It’s using essentially the same money, but perhaps we can change the messaging a bit,” he said, acknowledging the difficulties of attracting and retaining women who are often “the primary caregiver with children and the like.”
There may be other programs “inside the government of Canada” but outside the RCMP that Toews said could be used to address “those kinds of barriers that are not simply present in the RCMP, but present in society generally.”
Toews had ordered Paulson to set out specific recruitment goals for females; a specific strategy to reach “in the intermediate term” a force where 30 per cent of the officers are female; reductions in timelines to address complaints; reductions in the number of complaints; promotion targets for female members, and targets for recruiting more women into the “officer” cadre (which means the senior ranks of inspector and up.)
On Tuesday, Toews moved to smooth over any perception of a rift between Paulson and himself.
“I think by and large the commissioner and I are on the same page on this issue,” Toews said. “It’s always difficult changing the entire culture of an organization. That’s the challenge that Commissioner Paulson is facing.”
Bill C-42, a bill that improves civilian oversight and gives the top Mountie increased authority to deal swiftly with gender or sex harassment complaints or disciplinary problems, “will go a long way in helping us change the culture of the organization,” Toews said.
The minister made the comments after tabling a new bill that would expand the federal witness protection program to cover military and spy informants, and increase the time they’d be protected. Any additional costs for the expanded program are also to come out of the RCMP’s existing budget, which remains the co-ordinating agency.
The RCMP has recently cut back on recruiting overall as a result of federal and provincial spending cuts.
And like other federal departments, the RCMP saw its spending frozen in 2010, and the last federal budget in March 2012 ordered the force to cut further. It is expected to cut $44.4 million this year. That annual cut rises to $89.1 million in 2013-14, and by 2014-15, the RCMP is expected to reach “ongoing savings of $195.2 million” a year.
It’s a big whack out of a police force that is struggling to meet the rising cost of providing many national policing services to other jurisdictions — as the federal auditor general has reported.
Original Article
Source: the star
Author: Tonda MacCharles
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