100 B.C. Mounties to probe sex harassment within force, Tamsyn Burgmann , The Canadian Press
“British Columbia’s top RCMP officer says he’s talked to hundreds of women who work for the force in British Columbia and they’ve told him the work environment has to change, so he’s appointing 100 Mounties to investigate sexual harassment complaints in an effort to improve a culture condemned by some as intolerably sexist.
“The investigators will form the crux of a broader plan being hammered out under the direction of RCMP Deputy Commissioner Craig Callens in response to the internal workplace assessment he initiated earlier this year after several high-profile accusations were made public.
“Cpl. Catherine Galliford, a former media relations officer, was the first to speak out about enduring sexual harassment and abuse from senior officers and she touched off a series of suits including a class-action that could involve more than 100 women…”
This is not the first time for RCMP top brass to promise that members will soon enjoy improved work conditions. However, this might be the first time the senior officer is likely to initiate significant reform.
There is much to be done to restore the RCMP’s good name and reputation. Appointing 100 police officers to examine harassment complaints is not a top-down review. Quite the opposite. But, a unique approach is required and this might be it. We should all hope Deputy Commissioner Callens will be successful.
Categories: RCMP
IN-SIGHTS 
I hope they can turn this whole mess around. A terribly humiliating ordeal,for the female
members involved. I would agree that perhaps the only form of justice, will be in the form of a class action lawsuit against the force, and perhaps civil lawsuits against the individuals involved.
For those, who still serve with integrity and believe in the organization that was once a proud and honorable one, this must be a tough time, indeed.
For those, who have brought the organization into public disrepute, your services should be immeadiatly dispensed with. If guilty of “any form” of harrassment, your position must be terminated and charges faced in court.
The setup to dismiss a member, is one frought with delay and appeal after appeal. In any paramilitary organization, severe disregard for ones fellow member, whether male or female, should be grounds for immeadiate court martial, and even removal from the service. The public perception of “senior members” of such a “public” and once respected organization, involved in this type of behavior is truly disturbing and has only shown the public that
perhaps this organization's time has come and gone.
As to having the RCMP investigate itself, this is a non starter. Another body or investigative unit should be called in, to be impartial, and leave no stone unturned, in an effort to “clean up” this mess.
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I agree with the comments the first training for RCMP is cover your own ass. How can people who work in RCMP always above the Law and get different justice?? I guess they have to dismantle the whole RCMP and let the American police control Canada. That is happening now.
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Despite the public relations exercise promoted above, it seems pretty clear to me that the management ranks of the RCMP have very little interest in cleaning up its culture of sexual harassment.
My best advice to abused female RCMP officers would be to document everything and consider covert surveillance of their own. It's very hard for P.R. flacks to argue with audio or videotaped evidence. (Although, given the “code of silence” enforcer culture of the RCMP, I'd also recommend leaking it to the evening news before presenting the evidence to Court. That way, it's much more difficult for it to be “disappeared” under the auspices of a sham investigation as was first attempted with the Dziekanski footage.)
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