The RCMP's grievance process doesn't line up with standard federal government procedures for dealing with harassment and the culture must change in order to fight the problem, MPs heard Tuesday morning.
RCMP representatives are appearing as witnesses at the House of Commons status of women committee this morning, providing testimony as part of the MPs' study of sexual harassment issues in federal workplaces.
Sharon Woodburn, the director general of the RCMP's workforce programs and services, and Michael O'Rielly, the director of the RCMP's legislative reform initiative, will appear as witnesses.
Woodburn and O'Rielly told MPs that the Treasury Board Secretariat process is set up to resolve problems early and rebuild relationships. The only recourse in the RCMP, however, is a disciplinary process that requires gathering evidence to prove a violation of the code of conduct. It echoes repeated comments by RCMP Commissioner Bob Paulson that the force needs an updated disciplinary process, something that's up to Parliament to pass.
That legislation, Bill C-42, has made it through committee stage in the House.
Two representatives of the RCMP's external review committee started testifying at 9:40 a.m. ET: chair Catherine Ebbs, and executive director and senior counsel David Paradiso.
In an interview with CBC News last week, Paulson said the Mounties' "harassment crisis" had "shadowed" his first year on the job, something which was "appropriately and properly in need of attention."
Over the last year, CBC News has been documenting stories from female Mounties who have detailed accounts of sexual harassment on the job.
A year ago, one of British Columbia's highest-profile Mounties said she's suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder after years of sexual harassment. Cpl. Catherine Galliford went on sick leave in 2007 and launched a lawsuit against the RCMP last May.
Last spring, it was revealed that RCMP Sgt. Don Ray was demoted and transferred from Edmonton to B.C. after he admitted to having sex with subordinates, drinking with them at work and sexually harassing them over a three-year period.
Paulson said last spring in an open letter that the current discipline system for the RCMP was designed 25 years ago. He also said it's "unsatisfactory" that tax money is used to continue paying people who don't deserve to be on the force.
The first hearing in female Mounties' class-action lawsuit against the RCMP, which alleges systemic harassment and gender-based discrimination, was held in British Columbia's Superior Court last August.
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