Liberals stand by RCMP leader
Lucki called on to show better leadership amid growing tensions
OTTAWA— Public Safety Minister Bill Blair says the Liberal government expects RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki to reform the federal force amid calls for her resignation and pointed criticism of the Mounties’ handling of the Nova Scotia lobster fishery dispute.
But while Lucki appears to still have the government’s confidence, the Liberals have stopped short of a full-throated defence of the commissioner they appointed two years ago with an explicit mission to restore Canadians’ trust in the Mounties.
“All police services, including the RCMP, must be committed to ensuring the people they serve and protect are treated with dignity and respect,” Blair told the House of Commons.
“Police reform must ensure justice and fairness for all Canadians, and that reform is the mandate that we have given to the RCMP commissioner and what we expect from the RCMP.”
Blair said he spoke Monday to Assembly of First Nations Chief Perry Bellegarde, who on Friday had called for Lucki’s resignation.
“The issues we discussed are serious, complex and longstanding, and they must begin with an acknowledgment that systemic and structural racism and bias exists throughout our criminal justice system,” Blair said.
That appeared to be a reference to Lucki’s resistance earlier this year to acknowledging systemic racism within the federal police force. In an interview with CTV News in June, Lucki said she had heard “five or six” definitions of systemic racism and she struggled with the idea that it exists within the RCMP.
She quickly revised that position, acknowledging systemic racism within the force.
Bellegarde was not available for an interview Monday. But in a statement Friday, the AFN chief said that he had “lost confidence” in Lucki’s leadership.
Indigenous Services Minister Marc Miller, who has been critical of Lucki and the RCMP, said the criticism facing the force is not directed at any particular officer — but he expected the commissioner to “show leadership.”
“This is about the forces that keep us safe and too often, as we’ve seen in events in the past with Indigenous peoples in particular, racialized Canadians have not felt protected by those forces,” Miller told reporters outside a cabinet meeting Monday.
A senior government source, who was granted anonymity by the Star in order to discuss internal government deliberations, said there does not appear to be imminent plans to replace Lucki.