RCMP gender equity unlikely to happen

The head of the RCMP says she doesn’t think the force will get to 50 per cent gender equity.

Commissioner Brenda Lucki said the fact that Mounties mainly police rural areas makes it difficult for some women.

“The RCMP is primarily rural police so it’s very difficult,” Lucki said while being cross-examined at the national inquiry into missing and murdered Indigenous women in Regina on Tuesday.

“It’s difficult if you are mobile and you’re leaving your family structure behind.”

During 2016-17, slightly more than one in five RCMP regular members were women, and the force hired 22 per cent women over that period.

Over the same time, the Toronto Police Service hired 48 per cent women.

Lucki said comparing Toronto police to the RCMP isn’t fair.

“You’re dealing with an urban environment where you’re primarily recruiting in an urban area. There’s no mobility concerns as far as people being able to stay their entire career in Toronto,” Lucki said.

“The RCMP is primarily rural police, so it’s very difficult.”

Beth Symes, who acts as council for Pauktuutit and four other Inuit organizations, questioned Lucki during cross-examination.

Symes said it is “utter nonsense” to brush off the comparison between RCMP hiring practices and those of the Toronto police.

He says the man responded by saying he was sick of Running Coyote’s people “mooching” off tax dollars and living on welfare. He then hurled more profanity as he sped away.

In a message posted on Facebook, Running Coyote says, “I hate you, Canada, for teaching people to treat me this way,” and asks why he was told to leave the restaurant when the other customer was not.

He also told Red Deer media outlet rdnewsNOW that there’s nothing he would have done differently that night.

Carpenter said in his statement that he prides himself on creating and maintaining a diverse and accepting environment for all customers and employees.