Auxiliary RCMP Petition in Ottawa

Posted on 5/13/2016 7:27 AM by Ron Manz 107.5 KISSFM
A petition Vernon councillor Bob Spiers started to have auxiliary RCMP constables given the same tax credit as other volunteer first responders is expected to be presented in Parliament soon. 783 people across Canada signed the petition meaning it passed the 500 needed to be valid. His petition was validated in Parliament May 8th...and he's hoping either local MP Mel Arnold or the Parliamentary Clerk will present it to the House of Commons any day now. "I think that will happen within 10 days either by the member who sponsored it rising in parliament and presenting it or it will be back-doored in by the Parliamentary Clerk after so many days. Then the government will have 45 calander days to respond to it." Spiers says he remains positive it will become law....but says it may be too late. "I wish we had got something like this two or three years ago when the local RCMP auxiliary police was in a better state to keep on going. It would have benefitted a lot more people." Spiers says despite the reduced role of auxiliary constables in the RCMP it still applies to other forces and could help them. "Now there's a lot of auxiliary members in a lot of other police forces, municipal and provincial that it would benefit. Hopefully they will get it and maybe the auxiliary police mandate in the RCMP will change over the next few years and get back to where they were before." Spiers says the reduced role and authority of RCMP auxiliary means many volunteers are not re-signing.
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AUXILIARY CONSTABLES: (P.167)
 The RCMP Auxiliary Constable Program is undergoing change to ensure the safety of the
volunteers. The auxiliary constables provide countless hours of dedicated service to our
community and the RCMP wants to ensure they are not exposed to the same risks as regular
members. In January the ride-along portion of the program was removed and a review is
underway in Ottawa to define the duties, training standards and uniform. As a result of the
changes the new class of Vernon/North Okanagan Auxiliary Constable’s training was placed on
hold pending direction from National Headquarters.