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RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki introduced she will probably be stepping down on March 17.Adrian Wyld/The Canadian Press
After practically 5 years on the job, RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki is retiring on March 17. Commissioner Lucki, whose five-year time period was up for renewal in March, stated as not too long ago as November that she wouldn’t step apart, regardless of dissatisfaction from the federal cupboard.
Ms. Lucki joined the RCMP in 1986 on the age of 20 and served in Quebec, Ontario, Manitoba, Alberta, Saskatchewan and former Yugoslavia. She was a darkish horse within the race to grow to be commissioner, following the retirement of her predecessor Bob Paulson. Ms. Lucki gained over the 10-member choice committee along with her expansive operational expertise in her position because the commanding officer of Depot Division in Saskatchewan, the place RCMP cadets are skilled.
However Ms. Lucki’s tenure as commissioner has been embroiled in controversy, together with the RCMP’s dealing with of the Nova Scotia mass capturing and the convoy protests in Ottawa.
Right here’s a timeline of Ms. Lucki’s profession as RCMP Commissioner.
2018: RCMP’s first feminine commissioner
After 32 years within the pressure, Lucki turned RCMP Commissioner in April, 2018, the primary girl to carry the put up completely. The Trudeau authorities directed Lucki to carry widespread change to the group, which struggled for years to take care of sexual harassment and criticism for its remedy of Indigenous folks. Former RCMP officer Catherine Galliford, who settled a sexual-harassment lawsuit with the pressure in 2016, stated the time was ripe for a feminine commissioner.
2020: Nova Scotia mass capturing
The Commissioner was embroiled in controversy over her dealing with of the Nova Scotia mass shootings in April, 2020. After the bloodbath, Nova Scotia Mounties accused Commissioner Lucki of permitting politics to intrude within the legal investigation when she pressed investigators to launch particulars of the weapons used with the intention to bolster the Liberal authorities’s gun management laws. In the course of the public inquiry into the mass capturing, Commissioner Lucki stated she wished these particulars made public within the curiosity of transparency, not due to a political agenda.
2020: Systemic racism inside the RCMP
Within the wake of the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis in 2020, which prompted reignited protests in opposition to police brutality throughout the globe, Commissioner Lucki disputed that systemic racism exists inside the RCMP, saying “I feel that if systemic racism is that means that racism is entrenched in our insurance policies and procedures, I might say that we don’t have systemic racism.” Days later, she clarified that “systemic racism is a part of each establishment, the RCMP included” and vowed to “lead optimistic change on this crucial subject.”
2020: Violence in opposition to Mi’kmaq fisheries
Commissioner Lucki confronted criticism and calls from Indigenous leaders for her resignation over the RCMP’s failure to cease violence and intimidation in opposition to Mi’kmaq fisheries. Within the fall of 2020, an indignant mob attacked storage services holding Mi’kmaq lobster catches and set a van on hearth. Prime Minister Justin Trudeau stood by Commissioner Lucki and stated the federal authorities will maintain working with the RCMP to scale back systemic racism in its ranks.
2021: RCMP launches unbiased physique to analyze sexual misconduct
In June, 2021, the RCMP launched the Impartial Centre for Harassment Decision, an unbiased physique that will have the facility to analyze sexual misconduct and harassment complaints inside the police pressure. Commissioner Lucki stated the RCMP believes the centre “will enhance belief and provides folks the arrogance to talk out.”
The centre was created within the aftermath of a report launched in 2020 by former Supreme Courtroom justice Michel Bastarache, which discovered a “poisonous” tradition inside the pressure that tolerated misogynistic and homophobic attitudes. Mr. Bastarache’s assessment stemmed from the Merlo Davidson Settlement, which arose from two-class motion lawsuits alleging that feminine members of the RCMP had been sexually harassed whereas working within the pressure.
2022: Convoy protests and the Emergencies Act inquiry
Commissioner Lucki’s position in the course of the convoy protests was underneath scrutiny in the course of the Emergencies Act inquiry in November. Throughout her testimony, Commissioner Lucki couldn’t recall key conferences, didn’t perceive the position Emergencies Act might play and was unable to clarify feedback from conferences and her textual content exchanges.
With studies from Robert Fife, Steven Chase, Greg Mercer, Janice Dickson, Marieke Walsh and Marsha McLeod.
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