Chief Supt. Lindsay Ellis, the Yukon’s highest-ranking RCMP officer, won’t be directing the removal of RCMP services from communities in the Yukon because of a policy document dropped by former Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on his way out the door.
“When I first became aware of the white paper from the now-resigned prime minister, this came as a surprise of a change of direction from what we had been led to believe,” Ellis said.
The policy document in question, titled “A New Policing Vision for Canada: Modernizing the RCMP,” was published March 10. Ellis told the News by phone on March 14 that some Yukoners are angry over a suggestion to potentially remove RCMP from boots-on-the-ground policing.
“I heard from many people from the communities, from Whitehorse, from within the Yukon, in various roles, about their support of the RCMP after the white paper was released, and at times, absolute anger for some of the suggestion of the RCMP perhaps not being here beyond 2032 when our contract is renegotiated with the territory,” she said.
Ellis agreed with her predecessor, recently retired Commanding Officer Scott Sheppard, that it would be a giant step backwards to depart from the national police force’s presence on the front lines.
Ellis indicated the Yukon RCMP currently can move experienced police officers between national policing responsibilities and to areas of crisis and concern and share physical assets.
“We're facing unprecedented challenges as a country to our sovereignty, to our security and to our economy, and any destabilization of the national police service would be disastrous to some of those challenges that we're facing,” she said.
“It's because of our front-line services in the communities that we can be successful at the national level.”
On the contrary, the Yukon needs the RCMP — and more of it, per Ellis.
“In 2001 when the World Trade Center was under attack, we had an aircraft, foreign aircraft, that had the hostage button hit, and it landed here at Whitehorse international airport. That was a situation that was responded to and coordinated, not just within the Yukon, but on a national scale,” she said.
“We have more recent examples of where we have been able to bring the resources of the RCMP and the coordination of the RCMP to bear very quickly to support policing and safety and security needs here in the Yukon.”
Ellis indicated the Yukon RCMP is willing to modernize and be more effective but isn’t willing to pull out of communities.
She said the Yukon government and RCMP are conducting a joint policing review.
Ellis is keenly aware of the capacity in rural Yukon and in the territorial capital. Police sometimes find themselves filling the gaps in emergency services and providing coverage outside of the scope of policing duties. Gone are the days when officers conducted marriage ceremonies and delivered the mail, according to Ellis.
“That is an important part to keep us moving forward and to modernize, is to recognize that where there may be lack of capacity in some areas of the communities, that doesn't translate automatically to the police will then pick up that slack and pick up that that role,” she said.
“We cannot do that to be a modern and evolved police service.”
Ellis said the Yukon RCMP is prepared to respond to the evolving world of crime in the digital age comprised of more high-tech tools and expanding foreign threats. For example, she said police in the Yukon have built up capacity, within its finite resources, to respond to cybercrime.
She noted that establishing a Yukon police force or a Whitehorse police department would be a huge undertaking that would move along very slowly and is likely many years away. Devolution would require legislative changes and ministerial directive.
“I think that even the concept of, you know, community safety officers, that concept is based on a non-law enforcement duty role. The standards and the regulations are not there,” she said.
Ellis said RCMP supports other agencies like Whitehorse bylaw and community safety officers that provide complementary services.
Ellis said she is standing up for the Yukon RCMP by sending internal messages and public statements about the importance of and her confidence in the RCMP’s work. She said she is supported by RCMP commissioner Mike Duheme and the senior executive.
“It's very destabilizing for our people when they hear things from, you know, a person in, a resigned prime minister, that there might be some doubt or some wobble in our direction, where we're going,” she said.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
