Vol. 148, No. 26 — December 17, 2014

Registration

SOR/2014-293 November 28, 2014

ROYAL CANADIAN MOUNTED POLICE ACT

Commissioner’s Standing Orders (General Administration)

The Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, pursuant to paragraphs 21(2)(e) (see footnote a) and (m) (see footnote b) and subsection 47.1(3) (see footnote c) of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act (see footnote d), makes the annexed Commissioner’s Standing Orders (General Administration).

Ottawa, November 25, 2014

BOB PAULSON
Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

COMMISSIONER’S STANDING ORDERS
(GENERAL ADMINISTRATION)

INTERPRETATION

Definitions

1. The following definitions apply in these Standing Orders.

DUTIES AND FUNCTIONS OF MEMBERS WHO ARE PEACE OFFICERS

Additional duties and functions

2. In addition to the duties prescribed by the Act and the Regulations, members who are peace officers are required to perform duties and functions of an operational, administrative, scientific or technical nature, including duties in support of those duties and functions.

MESSES AND LOUNGES

Mess establishment and dissolution

3. (1) Subject to the approval of the Commissioner, members may establish, determine the membership structure and dissolve a Force mess.

Approval of Commissioner

(2) The Commissioner may approve the establishment, dissolution and membership structure of Force messes.

Mess association

4. (1) Members of a mess must establish a mess association, consisting of members of the Force organized on the basis of geographical area and rank.

Mess constitution

(2) Each mess association must establish a mess constitution that provides for the operation of the mess and includes a provision for the election of a mess committee that is responsible for the operation and administration of the mess.

Mess membership

5. (1) Every regular member, other than a special constable, is a member of the mess established for the member’s rank in the geographical area where the member is physically posted.

Obligations

(2) Every mess member must observe the mess constitution, and pay any fees that it requires, for the mess of which they are a member.

Other members of mess

(3) Special constable members, civilian members and civilian employees may become members of a mess under the terms and conditions established by the mess constitution.

Lounge

6. (1) The Commissioner may establish lounges.

Lounge committee

(2) The Commanding Officer for the division in which a lounge is located must establish a lounge committee and appoint its members.

Committee responsibility

(3) The lounge committee is responsible for directing the operation of the lounge.

Insurance

7. Liability insurance must be maintained for messes and lounges.

REPRESENTATION

Providing representation or assistance

8. With the exception of a Member Representative or a Conduct Authority Representative as defined in section 29 of the Commissioner’s Standing Orders (Conduct), or a staff relations representative, as referred to in subsection 56(2) of the Regulations, and subject to subsection 9(1), a person under the Commissioner’s jurisdiction may provide representation or assistance to a member under subsection 47.1(1) of the Act only if the person has been authorized to do so by the person who holds the first position of officer or its equivalent in the person’s chain of command.

Exceptions

9. (1) For the purposes of paragraph 47.1(3)(b) of the Act, a person must not represent or assist a member under subsection 47.1(1) of the Act in any of the following circumstances:

Request to provide representation or assistance

(2) A person who wants to represent or assist a member must make a request in writing to the first position of officer or its equivalent in the person’s chain of command and a decision in response to that request must be rendered in writing as soon as feasible. The person who renders the decision must cause a copy of it to be served on the person who made the request and the member.

Disclosure

(3) A person who represents or assists a member must immediately advise the person who holds the first position of officer or its equivalent in the representative’s chain of command if one of the circumstances set out in subsection (1) exists.

REDRESS

Appeal of decision on representation or assistance

10. (1) A member seeking to be represented or assisted who has been aggrieved by the decision referred to in subsection 9(2) may seek redress by means of an appeal of the written decision in accordance with the Commissioner’s Standing Orders (Grievances and Appeals).

Redress for other decisions, acts or omissions

(2) A member who is aggrieved by any decision, act or omission in the process leading to the decision referred to in subsection 9(2) may seek redress by means of an appeal of the written decision in accordance with the Commissioner’s Standing Orders (Grievances and Appeals).

Effect of appeal

(3) Any appeal filed under this section does not suspend the grievance, the proceeding before a board or the appeal under subsection 45.11(1) or (3) of the Act.

REPEALS

11. The following Standing Orders are repealed:

12. The following Standing Orders are repealed:

COMING INTO FORCE

Registration

13. These Standing Orders come into force on the day on which they are registered.

REGULATORY IMPACT ANALYSIS STATEMENT

(This statement is not part of the Commissioner’s Standing Orders.)

Issues

The Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountability Act (the Accountability Act), which received Royal Assent on June 19, 2013, introduces significant changes to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act (the Act) to support the efforts of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) to support law enforcement operations through increased accountability in respect of the manner in which the force is administered. The changes to the Act created a requirement to review the RCMP’s Commissioner’s Standing Orders (CSOs) and the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Regulations, 1988 (the 1988 Regulations) to ensure that they align with the authorities, requirements, functions and powers provided by the Accountability Act. As a result of this review, the 1988 Regulations will be repealed and replaced with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Regulations, 2014 (the 2014 Regulations) and 20 existing CSOs will be repealed and consolidated into five new CSOs:

The purpose of this Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (RIAS) is to provide information in respect of the CSOs (General Administration). The other four CSOs listed above are each addressed in a separate RIAS. In addition, this RIAS will serve to provide the “master list” setting out in detail each of the 20 existing CSOs that will be repealed, those being:

The five CSOs, subsections 87(1), (3) and (4) of the Accountability Act, and the 2014 Regulations must all come into force at the same time in order to ensure the smooth and efficient implementation of the totality of the new systems created by the new statutory regime.

Background

In 2007, the government-appointed Task Force on Governance and Cultural Change in the RCMP (see footnote 21) provided recommendations relating to organizational structure, oversight, accountability, leadership, workload, employee wellness, and management. Also in 2007, the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness commenced a strategy to enhance the RCMP public complaints process in response to the report on the events relating to Maher Arar. (see footnote 22) In addition, beginning in late 2011, serving and retired members of the Force began to raise concerns in respect of harassment in the RCMP and challenged the Force’s commitment to providing employees with a safe, healthy, respectful and harassmentfree workplace. The cumulative effect of these events resulted in the Government’s direction to assess the feasibility of proceeding with amendments to the legislative suite governing the RCMP in an effort to begin to transform the manner in which it managed RCMP members, and to enhance the organization’s level of responsibility and accountability, both internally and externally. Government support for this level of transformation resulted in the tabling of the Accountability Act on June 20, 2012, which was consequently subject to extensive examination during the parliamentary process.

The Accountability Act is based on two former bills that were introduced during the third session of the 40th Parliament in June 2010. It contains the legislative amendments found in former Bill C-38 — Ensuring the Effective Review of RCMP Civilian Complaints Act (with minor technical amendments) and certain human resources management components of former Bill C-43 — Royal Canadian Mounted Police Modernization Act. Both these bills died on the Order Paper when an election was called in March 2011.

Although the Accountability Act received Royal Assent in June 2013, implementation is still subject to the coming into force of those parts that provide the authorities for the amended human resource management and administrative processes. As a consequence, the next step is to align the statutory instruments that are provided for by the Act, specifically the Regulations and the CSOs, with the new authorities, requirements, functions and powers provided for in the Accountability Act. All of the statutory components are in turn supported by policies, process maps, guidebooks, and training materials.

Objectives

Subsection 2(2) of the Act defines CSOs as “the rules made by the Commissioner under any provision of this Act empowering the Commissioner to make rules.” Simply put, the CSOs are statutory instruments created under the Commissioner’s authority which establish the essential components that are necessary for the implementation of various procedures. In particular, these CSOs contain rules governing general administrative matters and serve to repeal 20 existing CSOs that are no longer required as a result of the creation of the five CSOs described above under the “Issues” section.

Description

During the review and analysis of existing CSOs, four CSOs were identified as being unique in that they provided details and procedures specific to the administration of processes and structures that had no application to the other processes impacted by the Accountability Act, yet which still required amendments or outright repeal. The CSOs (General Administration) consolidate those CSOs in respect of the Duties of Members, Lounges, Messes, and Representation (which includes redress) of members as provided for under subsection 47.1(1) of the Act. The consolidation resulted in including the following amendments as part of these CSOs:

Finally, these CSOs repeal the entirety of the existing CSOs that will no longer be required after the coming into force. The following table provides details regarding the repeal and replacement of the current CSOs suite.

New CSOs CSOs consolidated under or eliminated by new CSOs CSOs repealed by virtue of being included in policy
Conduct Disciplinary Action
Portions of Representation
Practice and Procedure
Appropriate Officer		  
Employment Requirements Health Assessment
Loss of Basic Requirements
Medical Boards
Probationary Member
Qualifications		  
General Administration Duties of Members
Lounges
Messes
Representation		  
Grievances and Appeals Grievances  
Investigation and Resolution of Harassment Complaints    
    Authorized Passengers
Certificates of Service
Gifts or Sponsorship
Material Management
Precedence
Public Complaints
Sponsorship Agreements

In addition to the above-listed CSOs, the RCMP is retaining the following two existing CSOs: CSOs (Classification Redress Process for Members), and CSOs (Long Term Disability Insurance Plan). These two CSOs must be retained, as no other authorities are available to ensure that these administrative processes remain available to members. They have not been included under the CSOs (General Administration), as their uniqueness and specificity do not allow for their inclusion.

“One-for-One” Rule

The “One-for-One” Rule does not apply to this proposal, as there are no changes in administrative costs to business.

Small business lens

The small business lens does not apply to this proposal, as there are no costs to small business.

Consultation

The RCMP has conducted consultations in various forms with internal and external stakeholders affected by the proposed legislative amendments. In regard to the development of the new human resource management and administrative processes created by the amendments to the Act, beginning in June 2011, the RCMP created internal working groups, consisting of applicable subject matter experts, member and employee representatives, and divisional service providers and managers, to collaboratively identify options for the establishment of the form and structures for the new processes, procedures, policies, and training. These working groups played a key role in determining the contents of each of the CSOs, as even following the cessation of the working groups in late 2013, draft products, such as the proposed provisions for the 2014 Regulations, the Code of Conduct, policies, guidebooks and the CSOs were shared with the Staff Relations Representative Program, the official labour relations program of the RCMP, public service employee bargaining agents, and internal and external subject matter experts, for review and feedback.

To offer further opportunities for all employees to provide input, the RCMP created an internal Web site in June 2011, in order to provide information and updates on the implementation of the Accountability Act and how it could impact the Force and its employees. The site also provided email access to the RCMP team tasked with coordinating the response to the Accountability Act, and several thousand RCMP personnel have submitted their thoughts, considerations, concerns and suggestions throughout the course of building the necessary infrastructure for the implementation of the Act.

Rationale

The legislative framework calls for a department to update any related regulations when its enabling Act is revised. As a result of the enhanced authorities in the RCMP Act, new CSOs on General Administration must be introduced to include the terms, procedures and processes that are necessary for general administrative matters, and also to repeal 20 existing CSOs that are no longer required. The new CSOs will have the same coming-into-force date as subsections 87(1), 87(3) and 87(4) of the Accountability Act. Although there are no net additional costs, the supporting CSOs and the 2014 Regulations are essential and crucial elements of modernizing operations and streamlining practices to achieve enhanced levels of internal and external accountability for the manner in which the RCMP administers its internal procedures.

Implementation, enforcement and service standards

The 2014 Regulations and the revised CSOs will provide the additional authorities and procedural details that are necessary to complete the implementation and functionality of the processes and systems established by the Accountability Act. On the same day as their coming into force, a series of supporting policies will be available to provide further information that is more administrative in nature and that does not require the level of legislative authority that is provided for under a statutory instrument.

Service standards in respect of the application of the new procedures will be in place following the coming into force of the Act and will be refined in the coming years based on lessons learned and best practices. The RCMP will conduct a review of the adequacy of resources and the evaluation of the modernized human resource management and administrative processes three to five years after the date of implementation for consideration by RCMP senior executives and Government.

Contact

Chief Superintendent Michael O’Rielly
Director General
Workplace Responsibility Branch
Royal Canadian Mounted Police
Ottawa, Ontario
K1A 0R2
Telephone: 613-843-6109
Email: Michael.ORielly@rcmp-grc.gc.ca