Changes needed in rural policing

When I was about seven years old living in Ottawa, my very best girlfriend lived across the street. She had older siblings – one sister worked for the Department of Indian and Northern Affairs, the other sister was married, and her older brother was a Mountie. No surprise, I guess, because her father was a Mountie as well.

I remember going down the back stairs to their kitchen one afternoon and there stood father and son in their red serge. Oh my, they were so handsome and glamourous. I even believe the son was a member of the famed

Musical Ride.

I say all this because, like many Canadians, the RCMP represented Canada. They are known all over the world. They give horses to the monarch. They rode in the cortege for Queen Elizabeth II’s funeral.

And as I sat here last Thursday listening to sirens going by to the old Upper Clements Park and watched the release of the Mass Casualty Commission’s joint public inquiry report into Canada’s worst mass shooting, I wondered where the respect for those Mounties went.

While the latest assault on Upper Clements Park structures is tragic, it is no where near in the same category of what went on in Portapique and area. But these two events are now linked for me.

The commission’s mandate was not to determine guilt or assign blame, but about two-thirds of the 130 recommendations related to the RCMP and policing.

The two parts that I heard right away was the lack of communication, both during that rampage and after. You will, no doubt have read or heard all the details by now.

There is lots of blame to go around for the vandalism at the park. I am not going through the torturous journey about the ownership and who was responsible for what in that department. But, where were the Mounties when all the vandalism was taking place? They are the police force looking after Annapolis County. Did anyone call them? Surely, they did. And surely someone knows who did all the destruction there. Were they someone’s teenage kids? Were they adults ripping and tearing to get something to sell to someone?

I don’t know what the answer is to all my questions. What I do know is that rural Canada is not very well policed.

The whole policing structure needs to be overhauled. Rural municipalities can’t afford their own police forces. Smaller towns can, just barely. Big cities can.

But the boonies have had to put up with something that isn’t working.

In the Mass Casualty Commission’s executive summary and recommendations, the commissioners say, “Rural community well-being is constrained by limited access to services, poverty, and under-inclusion, and in some cases, this negatively affects the occupational health and safety of rural service providers. Urban bias in policy-making and service delivery contributes to inadequate public infrastructure and services in rural communities.”

Their recommendation C.1 says:

A) Provincial and territorial governments should take steps to address urban bias in decisionmaking by fostering meaningful inclusion of rural communities in all areas affecting them.

B) The federal government should support the inclusion of rural communities in decisionmaking on issues within their jurisdiction.

I am sorry to see the image of the Mounties being dragged through the mud but until a major change happens at the top and the whole force gets on board, I have no doubt that the vandalism here in rural Nova Scotia will continue with no one paying the price.