Hon. Marty Klyne: Earlier this year, the Auditor General released a report on First Nations and Inuit policing with troubling conclusions. One of the findings was that the RCMP did not consistently meet the terms of the Community Tripartite Agreements. Because of staffing shortages, the RCMP has been unable to fully staff the positions funded under the program’s agreements over the past five years, leaving First Nations and Inuit communities underserved.
Moreover, neither Public Safety Canada nor the RCMP collected sufficient information or conducted adequate analysis to identify whether requirements set out in policing agreements were being met and whether the program was achieving its intended results.
As far back as 2014, poor performance measurement had been identified as an issue. Ergo, there is no evidence of meaningful progress.
How does the government plan to address these issues?
Hon. Marc Gold (Government Representative in the Senate): Thank you for your raising this important issue, colleague. I have been informed that starting in 2024-25, Public Safety Canada will engage with external partners to develop a program improvement action plan that will include at least the following three elements: one, proposed updates to the 1996 First Nations and Inuit Policing Program, or FNIPP, and the terms and conditions that govern it; two, an updated program governance framework that will reconfirm how demand for improved policing and community safety initiatives will be tracked by provinces and territories of jurisdiction; and three, an updated program results measurement framework that has been collaboratively developed with provinces and territories of jurisdiction and, importantly, Indigenous partners funded by this program.
Senator Klyne: I look forward to that framework and its progress and productivity.
As a supplementary question, what specific steps is the government taking to address the persistent staffing shortages in RCMP detachments and to ensure the RCMP meets its commitments under community tripartite agreements?
Senator Gold: Thank you for the question. Like many first responders across Canada, the RCMP is experiencing pressures in relation to vacancies in police officer positions. My understanding is the RCMP has already taken steps to implement a revised national regular-member demand model, which considers demand for FNIPP police officers, along with all other RCMP police officer requirements within the organization. I am advised this model should be fully implemented within the current fiscal year, and the RCMP will continue to take steps to increase recruitment and retention.