RCMP's ability to defend national security is eroding, report warns

The RCMP's federal wing is at a «critical juncture» and its ability to police key files like foreign interference, terrorism and financial crime is on the line, says a recent report from the Mounties' independent advisory board.

After studying the sustainability of federal policing for more than a year, a task force set up by the external Management Advisory Board drafted a report that says the RCMP must change to survive — and the federal government needs to step up to protect Canadians' safety.

«Federal policing has now arrived at a critical juncture of its sustainability, which present risks for the national security and safety of Canada, its people, and its interests,» says the report, shared with CBC News this week.

It'sjust the latest report to offer dire warnings for the federal government about the direction of the national police organization.

«There is, I think, a real call for political leadership in this report,» said Christian Leuprecht, a professor of political science at the Royal Military College and of intergovernmental relations at Queen's University.

«Without that dedicated attention, the rest is simply going to be moving deck chairs on the Titanic.»

Federal policing is the section of the RCMP that investigates some of the most complex criminal files, those involving national security, organized crime, money laundering, cyber attacks and war crimes.

The RCMP is also responsible for boots-on-the-ground policing in large parts of the country, including many rural and remote areas.

The Management Advisory Board, created in 2019 by the federal government to provide external advice to the RCMP commissioner, set up a task force in the fall of 2022 to study the federal policing program.

«Canada and its people have