Mounties prepare for recruiting spree

RCMP holds info sessions for women, minorities

As it ramps up its recruitment efforts in the next few years, the Royal Canadian Mounted Police is trying to ensure potential recruits have all the information they need by holding information sessions geared to particular demographic groups.

At an “all-female” information session held last month, the first in Toronto, the RCMP brought out women officers from the bomb squad and the drug squad. There was even a pregnant officer available to talk to participants. The idea is to make sure potential recruits have the answers they need.

The all-female session might make it easier for people to come forward with concerns such as work-family balance, physical demands and maternity leave policies, said Supt. Glen Siegersma, in charge of national recruiting.

However, he downplayed the notion the RCMP is trying to recruit certain groups in particular.

“We’re hiring across the board but what we’re trying to (do) is to provide accurate information to the people considering us as an employer,” he said.

Whether at a mosque or in a small town community hall, the RCMP will make sure the officers present have the same background as, and can relate to, potential recruits, he said.

A session staffed by Sikh officers in uniform will also make young people in the Sikh community feel more free to ask about wearing turbans or kirpans as part of their uniform, he added.

The current information sessions are part of a “large hiring blitz,” in which the Mounties are expected to hire between 1,700 and 2,000 officers a year in the next three years. That’s more than double the 600 to 800 the RCMP used to bring in each year up to about two years ago, and well above the 1,000 new recruits the RCMP has been accepting every year in the past two years. Of the 26,000 people employed by the police force, uniformed members account for 16,500.

Even as more people are expected to retire from the ranks due to an aging workforce, recruiters are noticing that fewer people are interested in police work. At the same time, there’s growth within the policing sector, increasing demand for front-line officers, said Siegersma.

According to the RCMP’s employment equity figures, women make up 19 per cent of the RCMP’s uniformed workforce, visible minorities make up about 6.4 per cent and Aboriginals make up about 7.6 per cent. In the last five years, their numbers among new recruits have risen considerably, with woman accounting for 24 per cent of new recruits, visible minorities accounting for eight per cent and Aboriginals accounting for nine per cent.

Although the RCMP has suffered from a number of discrimination allegations in recent years, Siegersma said these have yet to become an issue for recruiters.

These allegations include those of Paul Carty, an officer of African and Aboriginal descent, who said senior officers made disparaging remarks about minorities in his presence; of cadet Ali Tahmourpour, who said he endured racial harassment at the training academy in Regina; of four female officers who alleged not only that they were sexually assaulted by one of the force’s top undercover investigators, but also that senior officers took part in reprisals against them for coming forward with their complaint.

“Is anyone scared away from these news stories? I wouldn’t be able to say,” said Siegersma. “So far that’s not an issue that has come to our attention.” As for the negative headlines, “we do some surveys around what drew people to the organization, and so far, we’re not getting any feedback,” he said.

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