Let’s Get Lucki: Simply scapegoating the incompetent RCMP boss won’t fix the rot in the force

The buck stops at a higher level than Brenda Lucki. A full house cleaning is needed.

Yesterday, an audio recording surfaced of RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki pressuring RCMP officers to insert Liberal firearms politics into the investigation of the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia.

Listening to the recording, you can hear the incredulity in the responses from Lucki’s subordinates. Potentially jeopardizing the integrity of the investigation into one of Canada’s worst mass killings seems to have been less of a priority for the RCMP boss, when compared to using the communications around the attack to make a political case for a piece of polarizing legislation. 

In his column today about the issue Postmedia’s Brian Lilley stated the obvious; Lucki needs to resign. However, the bigger question is whether or not her resignation will fix the multitude of problems and rot that have come to light during the Liberal’s time in government.

It won’t.

While this issue is incredibly bad for instilling public faith in the integrity and independence of Canada’s national police force, it is but one of many serious issues that have festered within the RCMP over the last several years. Claims of sexual assault within the force have been undermined or brushed under the rug. There are systemic, serious issues regarding the treatment of indigenous persons. None of these issues appear to have been taken seriously by either Lucki, or more importantly, Liberal Ministers with recent responsibility over the file, Marco Medicino or Bill Blair. 

To suggest that Lucki was acting without oversight or input from a Liberal Minister on any of these issues, particularly on the issue of communications around the mass killing, is ridiculous. There is no way Lucki would have acted this way without some sort of clearance from the tower, or the Minister’s office, as the case may be.

These issues have a fundamental impact on the safety and security of Canada. How can the public have trust in the RCMP if its leaders are using tragedies to push their political agendas? How will reconciliation progress if the treatment of Indigenous persons by the force continues to be treated as a joke? How will the force attract and recruit more women if they aren’t willing to guarantee them a workplace free of the threat of sexual assault?

It’s the Liberal Ministers’ job to deal with these issues. While Lucki has proven herself to be incompetent, these problems are deeper and more systemic than what her leadership has enabled. Placing the blame solely on her and using her turfing, which is all but inevitable at this point, as a scapegoat won’t fix these problems.

Both Medicino and Blair need to be held to account for their roles in these debacles. That these issues have persisted and gotten worse during their tenures proves their inability to get the job done. Their issues go beyond the RCMP as well. They would have set the table for CBSA related border crossing delays that put the entire Canadian tourism industry at risk. Both had a role in policies that cost $500M and laid a red carpet for tens of thousands of uncredentialed foriegn nationals using an illegal border crossing at Roxham Road to enter Canada. Both failed to do anything to materially reduce the importation of illegally obtained firearms from the United States.

And worse, all these people will soon testify at the inquiry into the federal government’s use of the Emergency Act. With a credibility gap of this magnitude with the Canadian public, how this testimony will be received by the public is a problem the government should be getting ahead of.

The Liberals should resist the temptation to allow all of these issues to be placed solely at the feet of Lucki. Disciplinary action at the  Ministerial level is desperately needed. Then, to restore credibility, the government should acknowledge the mishandling of these issues and come up with a plan with clear milestones to deliver.

Based on his previous track record, I anticipate Justin Trudeau will sign off on the turfing of Lucki - likely after she has taken any political heat regarding the Liberal government’s use of the Emergencies Act - and hope that will be enough to diffuse the politics of the situation. I doubt he will hold Blair or Mendicino to account.

For the sake of Canadian public safety and the future integrity of the RCMP, I hope he proves me wrong.