Police and Public Trust, a project of the CBC News Atlantic investigative unit, scrutinizes the largely off-limits police complaint and discipline systems across the region. Journalists are using access to information laws and, in some cases, court challenges to obtain discipline records and data.
Three years ago, an RCMP constable from the Moncton area was accused of belittling and laughing at a woman while taking her complaint of sexual assault.
That same year, another complaint came in from the Oromocto area, from someone who felt a sexual abuse investigation involving her daughter was inadequate. She also said they weren’t kept up to date on its status.
The RCMP found neither complaint to be substantiated, but they are examples of more than 30 allegations from members of the public about how RCMP officers in New Brunswick investigated complaints of sexual violence.
CBC Investigates obtained eight years’ worth of complaints about how the RCMP investigated a range of crimes, totalling more than 2,600 allegations made against the RCMP.
The data was obtained through access to information as part of CBC’s ongoing Police and Public Trust project, which takes the public inside the often-opaque systems of police complaints and discipline across Atlantic Canada.
Of the more than 2,600 allegations made against the RCMP, only three per cent were found to be supported. Half were found to be unsupported, 17 per cent were resolved informally and 16 per cent were withdrawn. Some were still under investigation when the data was sent to CBC.
Another complaint, from the Sackville area in 2018, was resolved informally after a woman said she was yelled at by an RCMP sergeant over the phone “when she tried to inquire as to why her sexual assault complaint was concluded without charges being laid.” She also said the RCMP failed to do a thorough investigation into her case.
Andie Marks works with Sexual Violence New Brunswick as an advocate for people who have experienced sexual violence. She works with the RCMP to review their sexual violence case files on a quarterly basis, and said she hopes the complaints made against the RCMP will help everyone do better.
“I think all of those complaints are things that will hopefully then allow the RCMP to put in place things so that they don’t happen anymore, and that we can also support them in that work,” said Marks, who is Sexual Violence New Brunswick’s justice lead.
Increased training
There were 2,168 sexual assaults and 1,138 “other sexual violations” reported to the RCMP between 2018 and 2022, according to the provincial government’s crime dashboard.
Nearly 47 per cent of the sexual assault charges and 55.5 per cent of the “other sexual violations” were “cleared.” That means police charged someone, recommended a charge against someone, or had enough information to lay or recommend a charge but didn’t for a variety of reasons, such as the death of a witness.
In recent years, the RCMP rolled out a course for sexual offence investigators that is mandatory for front-line officers across Canada, according to New Brunswick RCMP spokesperson Cpl. Hans Ouellette.
The force still doesn’t have 100 per cent of its officers trained in the specialized skills needed to interview victims. But as of October, 61 per cent of the RCMP’s workforce in the province had taken the course, including 86 per cent of front-line officers.
“We really want to ensure that the public understands that with the advancement in our protocols, the advancement in our training and all that, that the RCMP is there to listen,” Ouellette said. “We will hear you, and we will believe you.”
Forty officers are trained specifically to interview children who have experienced sexual violence.
Another training course focuses on offering a trauma-informed response, which is delivered by Sexual Violence New Brunswick.
Beyond training, Ouellette pointed to a guidebook designed for front-line investigators, and the hiring of a co-ordinator who oversees the response to sexual violence cases across the province.
That person sits on many committees, co-ordinates with the committee that reviews sexual assault investigation case files “and ensures that we continue to support victims and survivors of sexual assault and to really hone in on what are the trends, what is occurring and how we can better support our victims,” Ouellette said.
WATCH | Police and public trust: How the RCMP investigate complaints of sexual violence:
A 2017 review found shortcomings in how the New Brunswick RCMP handled complaints of sexual assault. What has changed since then?
Hearing about the 2021 complaint, where a woman alleged that an officer belittled and laughed at her, was “disheartening,” he added.
“I’m really sad to hear that individuals have had that type of experience because it’s definitely, definitely not in connection with the values that the RCMP and especially the values of RCMP members here in the division [have].”
Review found shortcomings
The changes come after a 2017 review found problems with the way the New Brunswick RCMP investigated sexual violence. It was prompted by a national investigation by the Globe & Mail into unfounded sexual assault cases.
The New Brunswick RCMP’s review found that very few of its members — 52 out of more than 800 — had specialized training to investigate sexual violence. Even fewer were trained to interview children, often leaving that task to staff with the provincial Department of Social Development.
“Investigators would be better prepared to interact with persons who have experienced trauma and have a better understanding of the mind and [body’s] reaction to trauma situations, such as gaps in memories or missing details in their recollection of events,” the report said about the need for more training.
The review also found a lack of documentation, problems with interview techniques and a lack of witness statements. The review examined cases from 2011 through 2016.
In the report’s conclusion, the RCMP acknowledged “deficiencies” uncovered by the review, and vowed to make changes.
But in 2022, the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission, which handles complaints about the RCMP, noted there had been 43 “adverse findings” in sexual assault cases involving the RCMP across Canada since 2019. A CBC analysis of those findings found RCMP officers still struggling to take allegations of sexual assault seriously and struggling with issues involving consent.
Two years later, a statement from the commission says its work “directly impacted” some of the improvements the RCMP has made to how it handles sexual assault cases, including the creation of a national sexual assault investigation course, changes to national policy around sexual assault investigations, and the creation of a best practices guide.
Advocate calls for expansion of case review committee
Complaints like the ones reviewed by CBC are the kind of incidents that Sexual Violence New Brunswick is working to stop.
Much of the organization’s work is about reducing what it calls secondary wounding for people who have experienced sexual violence. Those early conversations with police are “monumental,” Marks said.
“Even if there isn’t a conviction or even if there isn’t charges laid, if a survivor is treated well by the actors within the criminal justice system, if they feel listened to, if they feel believed, if they feel as though a thorough investigation was done or that the officer or whoever other person did everything they could in the context of that file — often survivors will tell us that it was still a very challenging experience, but they felt as though they got the shot at justice that they were looking for.”
Since the review in 2017, Marks said, she’s found an “increased openness” from the New Brunswick RCMP to work with organizations like hers.
That could be through training or it could be through regular reviews of case files, which have sometimes led to cases being reopened after advocates have examined them.
She said it has also led to policy changes, such as creating more soft interview rooms that feel more comfortable, and moving away from using what are called KGB statements as the default when interviewing survivors. KGB statements are videotaped statements that typically include a warning about the consequences of making a false statement, which Marks said can be difficult to hear for a survivor who is afraid no one will believe them.
Marks would like to see an expansion of the committee that reviews those cases, so every survivor who wants to have their case reviewed can do so.
She would also like to see more sexual violence co-ordinators hired and spread throughout the province.
“Rural policing looks very different than urban policing, and so I think that the folks who are providing that mentorship and review need to be able to recognize what those unique aspects are,” she said.
