N.S. mayors concerned province 'pushing' municipal police out as government expands RCMP role

Some Nova Scotia mayors of municipalities with their own police forces are concerned the province's move to expand the RCMP's role will push out municipal departments, leading to worse service and less local control.

Justice Minister Becky Druhan said Nova Scotia will move to a provincial policing model with the RCMP providing both local and specialized services for the province, but will allow municipalities to keep their own forces if they can meet higher standards. Some of those standards include access to underwater recovery teams or emergency response teams.

Mayor David Mitchell of the Town of Bridgewater, which has its own police force, said he doesn't understand how the PC government came to this conclusion when municipal services are cheaper and have shown faster response times with more local visibility than the RCMP.

WATCH | Mayors in Nova Scotia question provincial plans to expand the RCMP 

Mayors in Nova Scotia question provincial plans to expand the RCMP

5 hours ago

Duration 1:52

Municipalities that have their own police services are trying to figure out what the province’s newly announced expansion of the RCMP will mean for them. Gareth Hampshire reports.

"I'm confused and again need clarification from the minister on how the report that says the RCMP rural model isn't working is now going to be the model that is pushed on municipalities," Mitchell said Thursday.

"I see this as kind of pushing municipal policing out, and moving people to the RCMP."

Druhan announced the changes Wednesday following an extensive review into Nova Scotia's policing structure. It was carried out by Deloitte and informed by a survey of 7,000 Nova Scotians, as well as an advisory panel made up of municipal police, RCMP and people from diverse communities.

The report found that the current structure was not working, with "many respondents" from rural and Indigenous communities saying they were unhappy with RCMP performance. They raised concerns around slow response times, lack of visible police presence, and how the Mounties "are not integrated into the community."

The review suggested Nova Scotia start with the RCMP for the provincial policing model, and later decide if creating a provincially run police service would be better. Current examples include the Ontario Provincial Police.

Druhan said the province will invest more to ensure proper staffing levels are met across Nova Scotia, but Mitchell said he's concerned about the Mounties' ability to produce enough people when they are "already understaffed and stretched very thin."

Although the report noted that RCMP are often asked to assist municipal forces with special services, Mitchell said it missed the fact that municipal forces also are asked to help the Mounties in many cases.

"I kind of equate it to the report being like a trial that only hears from the prosecution and doesn't need to hear from the defence," Mitchell said. 

He said he has spoken to most of the mayors using the 10 municipal police forces, who share his concerns about getting lower service levels with the RCMP.

Kentville Mayor Andrew Zebian said he's worried about the "hefty price" that would come if the town tried to boost its 22-person department to meet the standards.

"They're not forcing you out of local, out of community policing, but it kind of feels that way," Zebian said Thursday.

He echoed Mitchell's concerns about having the quality of policing change. In a small town like Kentville, it's easy to get to know the officers and they respond to calls "within a minute," Zebian said.

Many municipal departments have already formalized special services with other municipal units across the province, like larger forces sharing dog teams with smaller ones. In northern Nova Scotia, Truro joined forces with Amherst, Westville, Stellarton and New Glasgow to create a regional major crimes unit.

Druhan said Thursday that any current arrangements can carry forward, but any new contracts for specialized services must go through the RCMP.

Mitchell said he was concerned to hear that, because the RCMP's specialized services can often be late. A couple of years ago, Mitchell said, it took "many days" for the RCMP's dive team to respond to a fatal collision involving a car that went into a river.

He is hopeful Druhan will be more flexible on allowing municipal forces to collaborate with "other police services that are capable, or more than capable," of meeting the standards as she starts her tour to consult with municipalities.

Yarmouth Mayor Pam Mood, president of the Nova Scotia Federation of Municipalities, said she's confident that the province has "done their homework" and the minister wouldn't be promising higher staffing levels unless the RCMP assured her they could meet the need.

"I think that it would be easier for an entire province to be under one police force. I mean, that's, that's not a question. You know, nobody wants things to be scattered," Mood said.

"However, you know, we have 10 municipal police forces. I understand they're doing, you know, tremendously great work. You don't fix what's not broken. So I think that the conversations that each municipal unit has with the province, with regard to how their police force is working, is going to be very important."

Mood worked for the RCMP in Nova Scotia as a civilian member for nearly 20 years, she said.

Funding will be the key issue for many municipalities, Mood said, because policing is often the most expensive item for local governments.

"We just want to make sure we can provide that high level of service within our means. And the province is saying the same thing, high level of service within your budgetary means. And if we can bring those two things together, then that's a win," Mood said.

Yarmouth contracts the RCMP for policing, and Mood said they have been "wonderful, no issues." But she said community policing is often the first thing to go when staffing levels are low, and her residents do want more Mountie boots on the street.

The province's move to "layered policing" that will see community safety officers mobilized to handle non-emergency calls like hospital transfers or wellness checks could be a big help, Mood said, freeing up officers for core policing duties.

The Deloitte review was partly spurred by a recommendation from the Mass Casualty Commission to examine the policing structure in the province following the shooting rampage in central and northern Nova Scotia that left 22 people dead in April 2020.

The commission's final report, released in March 2023, was highly critical of the RCMP's response to the mass shooting. It highlighted issues with the culture of the Mounties, and poor co-operation and co-ordination between the RCMP and municipal police.

But Liberal MLA Iain Rankin said he finds it odd that the PC government is talking about making transformational change when they're actually "doubling down" on the current hybrid model with multiple services providing policing.

"I think it's time that we have a conversation about a provincial police force," Rankin told reporters Thursday, suggesting it should not be carried out by the RCMP.

He said the cultural issues within the RCMP raised by the commission, and other reports across Canada, have not been addressed.

"To just say we're going to allow an expansion of that police force, I think, is problematic," Rankin said.

NDP MLA Susan Leblanc said it's clear that whatever policing model is chosen for each municipality, communities have to lead the process and decide what they need.