Royal canadian mounted police

• Author: Christopher Rootham
• Pages: 463-484

 

ROYAL CANADIAN

MOUNTED POLICE

A. INTRODUCTION

Members or special constables of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP),

or a person employed under terms and conditions substantially the same as

members, are excluded from the de nition of “employee” under the PSLRA.

While civi lian employees of the RCMP are appointed pursuant to the Public Ser-

vice Employment Act and are consequent ly entitled to join employee organiza-

tions and are otherw ise protected by the rights contained in the PSLR A, RCMP

members do not have those same protections. Section  of the PLSRA eectively

prohibits RCMP members from joining trade unions and being represented by

trade unions in collect ive bargaining.

e policy of the federal government wa s originally to prohibit the un ioniza-

tion of RCMP members. Between  and , members of the Royal North-

west Mounted Police and subsequently of the RCMP were expressly prohibited by

Order in Council from any union-related activity, on pain of instant dismissal.

e Order in Council stated:

No member of the Royal Nort hwest Mounted Police or of the Dominion Pol ice,

whether ocer, non-commi ssioned ocer or man, shall b ecome a member of

or be in any wise a ssociated with a ny Trades Union Organization or a ny Society

or be Association connected or aliated therewith; or with any union, Society

or Association of employers or a ny Society or Association connec ted or ali-

ated therewit h; or with any Union, Society or Asso ciation having for its object

Public Serv ice Labour Relations Act , S.C. , c. , s. ; s. ()(d) “employee” [PSLRA].

Public Service Employment Act, S.C. , c . , ss.  & ; Royal Canadi an Mounted

Police Act, R.S .C. , c. R-, s.  [RCMP Act].

 e discus sion of this pol icy is taken largely frome discussion of t his policy is taken l argely from Delisle v. Cana da (Deputy Attorney

General), []  S.C.R.  at paras. – [Delisle].

463

464           

the rights or i nterest of employees or of labour, or of employers or of capital in

competition wit h each other; and any contravention of t his regulation sha ll be

cause for insta nt dismissal.

e policy underlying t his Order in Council of  was founded upon the

fear that t he organizat ion of RCMP members into an employee organization

would result in members experiencing a “divided loyalty” or conict of interest

between their allegiance to their fellow workers and t heir required obedience

to their superiors’ orders. It was feared that, if RCMP members began to organ-

ize into employee associations i n order to promote their interests as employees,

members would experience a div ided allegiance. RCMP members might be un-

able or unwilling to obey commands if they felt that obedience would be incon-

sistent with allegiance to the cause of their fel low employees. is concern was

particularly pronounced in relation to the role of the RCMP in quelling labour

unrest. e federal govern ment felt that RCMP members might refuse to obey

the command to subdue labour upri sings, or to ll in for a stri king local police

force, if their allegiance to their fellow employees came i nto conict with such

a command. Hence the government sought to attack the perceived problem at

its source, by prohibiting even informal employment-related associations. e

federal government expressed these particular concerns in the preamble to the

Order in Council, which stated :

WHEREA S attention has been ca lled to the public impor tance of excluding

the members of the reg ular police forces of t he country from members hip or

association w ith Trade Union Organization s or aliated Socie ties or unions

or societies of employers or employee s constituted for the purpose or w ith the

object of regulat ing relations of employers and employees or as bet ween capital

and labour;

AND WHER EAS unfortu nately occasions ari se when it is necessar y to

invoke the aid of the p olice for the maintena nce of order in connection w ith

strikes , lock-outs or labour disturba nces;

AND WHER EAS it is considered that the publ ic might in a measure be de-

prived of the ser vice which it is entitle d to expect from the pol ice or that the

quality of t hat service might be prejudici ally aected, if t he police were in any

manner permit ted to identify them selves with one side or the other of a c ontro-

versy resulti ng in breach of the peace;

In , the federal government conrmed t his rule prohibiting RCMP mem-

bers from membership in a trade u nion in certain Regulat ions which read:

 P.C. -.P.C .  -  .

Ibid.