(Regina) Experts agree with the authors of the recent Mass Casualty Commission report that the time has come for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to rethink its military training methods.

The commissioners, who examined the events surrounding the tragedy that claimed the lives of 22 people in 2020 in Nova Scotia, made a recommendation to this effect. They say the RCMP Academy in Regina reinforces the police force’s outdated paramilitary culture, which undermines its efforts to connect with communities.

Scott Blandford, a public safety expert from Wilfrid Laurier University in Waterloo, believes that this type of training does not develop strong critical thinking and promotes the maintenance of a bureaucratic system.

The Mass Casualty Commission report recommends changing the way RCMP officers are trained.

For 140 years, RCMP cadets have passed through Depot Division in Regina, Saskatchewan. But the report recommends ending the Depot Division model by 2032, replacing it with a three-year police degree.

According to the Commission, a higher level of education would better prepare recruits for “an increasingly complex social, legal and technological work environment”.

The Depot Division welcomes an average of 1200 cadets per year, for a period of six months each. The recruits then go to the field, where they spend another six months in training.

The report notes that the Depot Division has historically recruited “very young men and women.” The minimum age is 19 years old.

“Too many aspects of training at Depot Division reinforce an outdated paramilitary cultural tradition,” argued retired sociology professor Chris Murphy and former RCMP assistant commissioner Cal Corey, both commission members. of investigation.

“It was basically a military boot camp […] where everything was designed to develop the culture of the RCMP, marching and discipline,” adds Scott Blandford, himself a former police officer who had chosen to go to the provincial police college of Ontario.

He says he often saw charges thrown out because an officer was unable to defend the evidence he presented.

“College or a post-secondary education provides strong writing skills, not a police college. It’s not their forte,” Professor Blandford points out.

This is not the first time that RCMP training has been called into question.

In November 2020, in a report entitled “Shattered Dreams, Shattered Lives” on sexual harassment within the RCMP, Michel Bastarache, a former Supreme Court of Canada justice, already pointed out that the current training was contributing to the toxic culture in place.

“From what I’ve been told, training at Depot Division is about tearing down a female cadet and rebuilding her to fit the mold of the RCMP,” Mr. Bastarache wrote.

He noted “a significant amount of sexualized behavior, binge drinking, and abusive relationships between instructors and cadets.”

He, too, felt that the training contributed to the toxic environment within the RCMP. “I think it’s time to review the approach to training given to them at Depot Division and determine if it is appropriate in the modern policing context,” Mr. Bastarache had recommended.

Since 2020, the RCMP says it has been engaged in a process to establish a “healthy, diverse and professional” workforce.

In a statement released in March, the RCMP announced the establishment of a team to review the report and its recommendations “to guide our action plan and update the public on our progress.”

However, Saskatchewan politicians, even if they recognize the need for better training for police officers, are very reluctant to a possible closing of the school. It has been in existence for almost 140 years and has a strong impact on the region, particularly in terms of jobs and tourism.

Earlier in April, elected members of the Saskatchewan Legislative Assembly passed a resolution opposing the closure of the Depot Division.

While acknowledging the School’s importance to the local economy, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau declined to commit to keeping it open.

Mr. Blandford says a colleague for police studies could be established in Regina using the facilities of the current School.

“So we’re not closing the school completely. We simply adapt by changing our mandate. »

The Commission recommended that one campus be located in Atlantic Canada and the other in a northern region.