An Alberta government proposal to create a provincial police force to replace the RCMP is being formally opposed by rural municipalities.
“They are just not convinced this makes any sense to address what is the core issue, which is rural crime,” said Paul McLauchlin, president of Rural Municipalities of Alberta.
He said organization members are looking for solutions to address the root causes of crime: judicial reform, substance abuse, mental health issues and poverty.
The RMA has submitted a report detailing its opposition to the proposal, which was sparked by a Fair Deal panel commissioned by Premier Jason Kenney.
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After gathering public input from thousands of Albertans, the panel submitted a final report in 2020. It contained several recommendations to help the province better assert itself within confederation, including exploring the creation of a provincial police force.
The Alberta justice department recently finished gathering further public input about the recommendation involving more than 50 in-person and virtual meetings, senior policy adviser Diane Carter said in an email April 8.
It included invitees from 371 municipalities, First Nations and Metis settlements policed by the RCMP in Alberta, she said.
“We’re now analyzing what we heard from stakeholders before deciding our next steps.”
The RCMP’s roots in the province date back to the arrival in 1874 of the North-West Mounted Police, which founded Fort Macleod and Calgary. Although the province created its own Alberta Provincial Police in 1917, the RCMP took over after the force was disbanded in 1932 to save money during the Great Depression.
Creating a new provincial police force will help fill gaps in service for farmers and other rural residents, better protecting them against criminals, said then-Alberta Justice Minister Kaycee Madu in 2021.
“The goal for us is, at the end of the day, more boots on the ground,” he told a meeting on rural crime in Claresholm, Alta. “The goal for us is to protect our province, our people — folks that live in our rural community.”
McLauchlin said producers can feel particularly vulnerable to criminals due to the isolated nature of farms and ranches. Large distances from the nearest RCMP detachment can mean criminals are long gone before officers arrive, he added.
However, he said the RMA’s members are not convinced by the provincial government’s argument that better service can be provided for less money than the RCMP, or that continuing with the current arrangement means ceding control of a vital aspect of Alberta’s authority to the federal government.
The provincial Ministry of Justice and Solicitor General in fact has the responsibility for policing as outlined by a federal-provincial RCMP policing agreement, he said. “And they set all the objectives, all the priorities and goals… and they even work with (the RCMP’s) K Division to actually build a business plan setting strategic objectives.”
It would cost $366 million to make the transition to the new Alberta force, on top of which the province would also lose the 30 percent of RCMP policing costs covered by the federal government, said an RMA statement.
It added only nine percent of Albertans who took part in a Pollara Strategic Insights poll in 2021 indicated the province needs to replace the RCMP with a provincial police force. As a result, the RMA’s recent spring convention endorsed a resolution for continued support of the RCMP.
The extra money that would be necessary to create a provincial police force would be better spent on services such as mental health to complement the existing services provided by the RCMP, said McLauchlin.
Compared to urban residents, rural Albertans are underserved when it comes to such services, he said. “I think that we really need to play the long game on the entire conversation with crime. We need to deal with the root causes, and yeah, we need to invest in Albertans.”
