Civil liberties group suing RCMP commissioner over delays in responding to civilian complaints

A civil liberties group is taking the RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki to court, arguing the time it takes her to respond to public complaints is undermining police accountability.

In court documents filed Friday, the federal government argues the RCMP has gotten better at responding to complaints — and the B.C. Civil Liberties Association's case should be thrown out.

The Attorney General of Canada, on behalf of the RCMP, is also pushing against the idea of setting strict timelines for the commissioner's response to complaints — despite repeated promises by Public Safety Minister Bill Blair to introduce legislated deadlines.

The case started back in early 2014 when the B.C. Civil Liberties Association (BCCLA) first lodged a complaint with the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) — the independent watchdog agency tasked with reviewing public complaints against the RCMP — alleging Mounties were spying on Indigenous and environmental protesters opposed to the proposed Northern Gateway pipeline.

The CRCC's findings, which pointed to gaps in the RCMP's surveillance policies, were only released in late 2020.

This spring, the BCCLA filed a lawsuit in Federal Court arguing that Lucki's failure to respond in a timely manner denied the organization its constitutional rights and undermined public confidence in the complaint process.

"We believe that that shows disrespect for the process and really undermines the confidence Canadians should have in the RCMP performing their duties properly," BCCLA's lawyer Paul Champ told CBC News.

Whenever CRCC investigators are unsatisfied with the RCMP's handling of a civilian complaint, or disagree with the force's initial take on it, they send what they call an "interim report" to the RCMP commissioner for review. Only after the commissioner responds can the watchdog release its findings and recommendations.

So bottlenecks in the commissioner's office can delay the release of interim reports. Some of those reports deal with serious criminal complaints.

The BCCLA's lawsuit cites other still-unreleased CRCC interim reports — one of which covers an investigation of the alleged sexual assault of a minor.

"In another disturbing case, the RCMP took nearly four years to respond to a CRCC interim report about an incident where a woman was left alone, topless and with a broken arm in an RCMP cell without medical attention because officers believed she was 'faking' the injury," says the BCCLA's lawsuit.

There is no statutory timeline the RCMP must follow in responding to CRCC interim reports. The RCMP Act simply says the commissioner should respond "as soon as feasible."

In 2019, the force signed an memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the CRCC — which is acting as an intervenor in the case — to respond to public complaints filed with the watchdog agency within six months. That agreement is non-binding.

'It doesn't mean anything goes'

The lawsuit will look at what "as soon as feasible" actually means.

"It is completely contrary to the statute to say that 'as soon as feasible' means whenever you want to. It doesn't mean anything goes," said Champ.

"Commissioner Lucki is actually the third RCMP commissioner we've had since we filed this complaint. Surely it could not have been the intention of Parliament when they introduced that section in the RCMP Act that 'as soon as feasible' means whenever you want to get around to it, even if that means years later."

The Attorney General of Canada, on behalf of the RCMP, argues in its court filing that the "as soon as feasible" standard needs to remain flexible.

"For example, the complexity of the report, the need to consult internally, available resources and competing priorities are all factors that affect the time it takes the RCMP to respond to an interim report," the department wrote.

"Avoiding strict timelines ensures the commissioner is not hamstrung and forced to produce a hasty response which does not meet the statutory objectives of public accountability and transparency because of its lack of fulsome detail and consideration."

Earlier this month, however, a spokesperson for Blair said the federal government is looking at setting binding timelines, either through regulation or legislation.

"These delays are unacceptable. Canadians deserve police services that are accountable to them," said Mary-Liz Power, spokesperson for the minister.

The minister's office said its position has not changed.

Lawyers for the Attorney General of Canada also argue the RCMP has increased its pace by, among other things, hiring more staff.

The government says in its court filing that between June 2020 and February 2021, Lucki delivered 71 responses to interim reports from the CRCC — including one on a 2013 complaint related to the RCMP's tactics during anti-shale gas protests in New Brunswick in 2013 and another related to Mounties' conduct during the investigation of the 2016 shooting death of Colten Boushie, a 22-year-old resident of the Red Pheasant First Nation.

The commissioner provided 18 responses to the CRCC over the entire 2019-2020 fiscal year.

Because the CRCC released its final report on the protests in December, Champ and the BCCLA are asking for "declaratory relief" — an official declaration from the court that Lucki breached her duty under the RCMP Act.

The federal government is calling the BCCLA's claim moot, since the report on the 2014 protest was released.

Kai Nagata is communications director at the Dogwood Initiative, one of the community groups protesting the pipeline. He said he hopes the case can help other community groups in the future.

"It seems like an obvious delay strategy by the RCMP commissioner to simply sit on a report that prevents any bad news headlines, that prevents any kind of resolution or closure for the people who were spied on," he said.

"I think that fixing the complaints process is one small step towards creating an environment where police are accountable for their actions and where the public, who pays for their toys and pays for their tools, has a window into how those tools are used against peaceful, law-abiding citizens across the country. "

Champ said he hopes to request a hearing date sometime this week.