New scandals face RCMP

Crimes, coverup of government corruption among allegations to be detailed by lawyer for Mounties
May 29, 2007 04:30 AM Tonda MacCharles Ottawa Bureau http://www.thestar.com/News/article/218715

OTTAWA–The RCMP is about to be struck with a new wave of allegations of wrongdoing, including a cover-up of government corruption and criminal acts by senior members of the national police force. The Star has learned that at least six, and as many as 12 current and former Mounties, are anxious to come forward with allegations against the force never before made public. They want to be subpoenaed by a House of Commons committee to give them some legal and job protection and if called will testify about: "Subversion of an investigation into corruption and nepotism" in purchasing and contracting practices, and "the falsification of signatures to pay out money, on the part of government officials" in the New Brunswick government.

Allegations that superior officers committed criminal acts against other RCMP members, including electronic surveillance and alteration of documents "to achieve improper goals"Misuse and misdirection of public policing funds to finance the vendettas of managers against targeted members The deliberate cover-up of evidence against former RCMP officer Staff Sgt. Clifford McCann and others implicated in the abuse of young boys at the now-defunct Kingsclear Youth Training Centre in New Brunswick. This is also the subject of an investigation by the RCMP's civilian complaints body that has been dragging on for nearly two years. Interference by superior officers in the political campaigns of RCMP members who sought election to government, including "spying on constituency meetings." Harassment of RCMP members based on their sexual orientation. Regular use of punitive transfers by RCMP management. Psychological "warfare" by certain superior officers against lower ranking members.

The allegations are contained in a letter from Toronto lawyer William Gilmour, himself a former Mountie, to an unnamed Conservative MP. The Star obtained a copy of the letter. It comes at a time when the RCMP is already in turmoil. It has been without a permanent commissioner since Giuliano Zaccardelli resigned last December after he gave conflicting testimony to a Commons committee over the story of Maher Arar, who was deported to Syria and tortured there. And the Commons public accounts committee has been holding hearings since Feb. 21 into allegations that money in the RCMP pension fund was misused. Stockwell Day, minister in charge of the RCMP, last month named lawyer David Browne to investigate the pension abuses. The force is also under scrutiny in two other judge-led inquiries: the Air India probe by John Major, and Frank Iacobucci's review of the cases of three Muslim Canadians who ended up tortured in Syrian or Egyptian jails.

The new round of would-be whistle-blowers includes Mounties whose concerns have never been made public before. All are or were regular uniformed members, including two commissioned officers (of inspector rank or higher). "My clients are of the view that a public inquiry is required to delve into all of the things that presently plague the morale of the men and women serving our national police service," wrote Gilmour, who described the force's internal complaints system in an interview as "broken. It doesn't work." While most of them do not yet want to be identified, the Star has learned that one of them seeking to bring forward new evidence is Const. Peter Merrifield of the RCMP's Toronto North detachment. Merrifield's predicament drew brief public attention after his unsuccessful bid to run for the federal Conservative nomination in Barrie in 2004 cost him a plum counter-terrorism job as part of the elite threat-assessment unit.

He now works in the force's customs unit. He is a supporter of a move within the RCMP to unionize rank-and-file members. He was unwilling to speak to a reporter about the problems he's witnessed, citing the RCMP Act and the force's ability to press internal Code of Conduct charges against members who speak out. But he is willing to volunteer testimony if summoned. So far Day has resisted calls to broaden the inquiry, saying Prime Minister Stephen Harper intends to name a new RCMP commissioner in June, and the government awaits recommendations on RCMP pension abuses on June 15.