I worked under four different Commissioners during my time in the R.C.M.P.. Robert Simmons was Commissioner when I first joined the Force, first as a Summer Student in Thompson, MB, then in the Comcentre in Winnipeg. Norman Inkster was the next, and the changes he made in recruiting priorities eventually allowed me to convert from a Civilian Member to a Regular Member. He was followed by Phil Murray, and then Giulianno Zaccardelli.
No doubt, if you followed the news in Canada at all in the past couple of days you are aware that Commr. Zaccardelli resigned in a cloud yesterday, over his change in testimony during the Arar Inquiry. Maher Arar is a Canadian citizen, arrested in New York because of alleged links to Al Qaeda and deported to Syria, despite his Canadian citizenship. In Syria he was tortured. It was later found that he had no links to Al Qaeda and that his arrest came about from erroneous information from the RCMP.
After testifying before the Inquiry Commr Zaccardelli later realized that some of his testimony was incorrect and contacted the Inquiry wanting to correct it, which he did. Although there is nothing wrong with what happened, his credibility had suffered and it was reflecting badly on the RCMP so he resigned. It would have been far far worse for him to have realized that he gave wrong information at the enquiry and NOT done anything to correct it.
He was not my favourite Commissioner, more because I didn’t agree with his policing priorities than any other reason. Too many resources going to fight "organized crime" and post 9/11 border initiatives, and not enough done for the basic detachment level policing. Sorry but the average person doesn’t care so much about Outlaw Motorcycle Gangs (a big problem no doubt) but does care about who broke into their house and stole their VCR, or the fact that their spouse beats them down on a regular basis. But that is what his background was, and it isn’t a surprise that would be where his priorities would lie. Also at that level of the Force, politics and the priorities of government have an effect on what the Force’s priorities are.
I don’t know who is going to be the next Commissioner will be (and I do not think it should be someone from outside the Force as suggested by some opposition members), but I do know a couple of the potential candidates and think they would both make excellent Commissioners. Deputy Commissioner Bev Busson is currently in charge of the Pacific region. She was amongst the Force’s earliest women members and I know her from her time in "F" Division (Saskatchewan). I found her to be very personable and not aloof as some officers are. By all accounts she was most capable at what ever job she had and is (or at least was) well attuned to the ranks. It is high time that the Force had a woman at it’s helm.
The other possible candidate is Deputy Commissioner Bill Sweeney. I worked under D/Commr Sweeney when he was Criminal Operations Officer in "G" Division. Another excellent capable member, he is also extremely approachable and personable. His eulogy at the funeral of the four members killed in the Mayerthorpe tragedy stood head and shoulders above any other speaker, and in my mind at least, best expressed how we feel about the death of another member.
I have no idea who else may be in the running for the RCMP’s top job (okay, I actually believe that the most important job in the RCMP is that of a constable on Detachment) but the Force would do extremely well with either of these people at the helm. I just hope someone in the government is sensible enough to choose one of them.
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I see that Beverley Busson has been named interim commissioner (http://www.cbc.ca/canada/story/2006/12/15/zaccardelli-lastday.html)
I liked your description of her, but I’m getting a feeling from the news coverage that this may mean that she’s out of the running. Or do you think that she’s still a possible candidate?
Hi Pamela,
It is good to see, and I’m not sure what the nature of the “interim” appointment. I suspect that it means that the government is going to appoint someone from outside the Force as commissioner and needed time to complete a search. I, of course, think that that is not the way to go, but what would I know compared to a bunch of politicians.
I have heard before (and I think it was mentioned in an article) that she really is not interested in the job on a permanent basis. I heard that she did not want the job when mentioned as a candidate when Zaccardelli was chosen.
Too bad really, I’m sure she’d do a bang up job.
Yes, I have gotten the impression that they are going to look outside too. Perhaps Busson isn’t interested because the job involves too much politics, PR, or, well, there are other expressions for it–not to the taste of a good administrator.
Both versions of Zaccardelli’s testimony that got him into trouble suggest that he was no savvy political animal. I’m not sure we’d be well served by someone who was though. I’ll be watching with interest.