Commission of Inquiry Relating to Public Complaints, Internal Discipline and Grievance Procedure within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police : The Commission of Inquiry Relating to Public Complaints, Internal Discipline and Grievance Procedure Within the Royal Canadian Mounted Police was established under Order in Council P.C. 2415, 31 October 1974, under Part II of the Inquiries Act, (R.S.C., 1970, c.I-13) and on the recommendation of the Solicitor General. The Commission was mandated to inquire into and report on the state and management of that part of the business of the Department of the Solicitor General pertaining to: (a) the current methods of handling complaints by the public against members of the RCMP; and (b) whether existing laws, policies, regulations, directives and procedures, relating to discipline and the grievance procedure within the RCMP can be improved and, if so, how improvement should be effected. The commissioners were René J. Marin, Chairman, Robin P. Bourne, Ross Wimmer, Donald K. Wilson and Robert A. Potvin. The secretary was Charles E. Belford.
During May 1974 members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) gathered at information sessions in Burnaby, Toronto, Ottawa and Montreal to discuss their rights and working conditions. Some members of the force wanted to gain support for the formation of a trade union. But the formation of a union was out of the question because in 1918 the Government of Canada had passed an order in council making it illegal for a member of the force to belong to one.
One of the main problems facing the RCMP was their low salaries compared with other law enforcement agencies. Police forces which had unions were well ahead of the RCMP in pay. For example, the city police forces in Montreal, Toronto and Vancouver not only received higher salaries than the RCMP but they were also entitled to overtime pay while members of the RCMP were not.
Dissatisfaction was first expressed in July 1972. Jack Ramsay, an ex-corporal who had served 14 years in the RCMP, wrote an article in Maclean's about the low morale within the force. Shortly after, the Public Service Alliance of Canada, with Ramsay's support, tried to unionize the RCMP. Although this attempt failed union sentiment among the members of the force was growing.
Partly in response to Ramsay's actions, the commissioner of the RCMP, W.L. Higgitt, authorized the appointment of division staff relations representatives. They were permitted to bring problems, concerns and recommendations of personnel to management. Representatives from each of the 16 divisions met annually with the commissioner and other senior officers of the force for that purpose. The first meeting took place in Ottawa in October 1972. Initially this system failed because representatives attending these meetings were forbidden to disclose the subjects that they had discussed. Agitation for distribution of a transcript of the 1972 meeting grew but one was not issued until early in 1974 and it caused such negative reaction that it had to be withdrawn.
At their meeting with management in May 1974, the divisional representatives pushed harder for rights on behalf of the members. Because of the widespread dissatisfaction expressed at this meeting, and at the mass meetings of constables and non-commissioned officers, which occurred at the same time, management responded and granted the divisional representatives more power. More important, members of the RCMP received the largest general pay increase in their history and for the first time were entitled to overtime pay. These concessions brought stability to the force and the idea of forming a union was soon forgotten. The events of May 1974, however, prompted the Government of Canada to appoint a commission of inquiry to investigate "public complaints, internal discipline and grievance procedure" within the RCMP. (See Men In the Shadows: The RCMP Security Service, John Sawatsky, Toronto: Totem Books, 1983, pp. 229-237.)
Hearings of the commission were held at various locations in all provinces of Canada between November 1974 and October 1975. The commissioners also visited United States, England, Holland and Sweden. RG33-71 General Inventory
