Ethics Newsline®

OTTAWA
A current officer and a former ethics adviser to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) say the elite force has a culture of covering up crooked behavior or corruption.

Canada’s National Post reports that staff sergeant Andre Girard told a panel investigating alleged RCMP pension irregularities that he personally had been the target of retribution within the force due to his official actions looking into the matter.

Girard said the force is rampant with “institutional protectionism, anything to protect the image of the organization, sometimes at all costs,” according to the Post.

At the same hearing, John Spice, a former ethics adviser, said he was told by a former RCMP commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli that he was making too much noise about alleged mismanagement in the pension fund and should back off, CTV reports.

Spice, who retired as an assistant commissioner in charge of the force’s ethical matters, told the panel that the RCMP is riddled with abuse of power and harassment, with officers and employees terrified of retribution for reporting wrongdoing, according to a report from the CBC.

“We should have had zero tolerance for any sorts of unethical behavior and, quite frankly, as much as I would like to say that we tried, we failed miserably,” he said, according to the Toronto Star.

Spice recommended that lawmakers establish an independent ombudsman to assure that complaints can be heard.

The panel is probing allegations of misspending of millions of dollars from the RCMP pension fund, widespread nepotism among fund administrators, and a cover-up that included threats of retaliation against whistleblowers.