Access to Information Act Request: Royal Family Protection Costs
Date: May 19, 2020
Classification: UNCLASSIFIED
Fully releasable (ATIP)? Yes
Branch / Agency: RCMP
Issue: Release of protection costs for the Royal Family from December 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020 by the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, in response to an Access to Information request.
Proposed Response:
- The RCMP, as outlined in its regulations, has a duty to protect individuals designated by the Minister of Public Safety, including certain members of the Royal Family when visiting. The level of service provided to any protectee is in accordance with the Force's assessment of threat and risk.
- In response to a request under the Access to Information Act, the RCMP has disclosed costs associated with providing protection to members of the Royal Family, such as incremental pay costs, travel expenditures, and operating expenses processed from December 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020.
- For security reasons, the RCMP cannot disclose salary costs, nor can it disclose specific security measures, as this could expose security postures adopted to ensure security and could jeopardize future Protective assignments.
If pushed:
- From December 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020 the RCMP’s costs associated with protecting members of the Royal Family totalled $66,918.
- This total represents all incremental pay costs such as overtime, travel expenditures including meals, incidentals, travel and accommodation, as well as operating expenses processed by the date of the request.
Background:
In the past, the RCMP has provided protective security to different members of the Royal Family while in Canada; however, the scope and type of services provided was dependent on the nature of the visit – i.e., in an official capacity on behalf of the Queen, or a working or private visit; whether the individual was identified as an Internationally Protected Person or designated by the Minister of Public Safety to receive protection from the RCMP, and in accordance with the RCMP’s assessment of the threat and risk to the security of the person.
The RCMP has processed an Access to Information request seeking costs associated with having members of the Royal Family (Prince Harry, Meghan Markle and their child) in Canada for a six week period in approximately December 2019 and January 2020. Specifically, the requestor is seeking all costs associated to assuring their security detail while in Canada including, but not limited to, salary costs, overtime and expense accounts of all RCMP employees assigned to their security detail, as well as the estimated costs for the fuel and maintenance of the vehicles used as part of their protection detail. The first ATIP was released on May 18, 2020.
In response, the RCMP has disclosed that from December 1, 2019 to January 31, 2020 their overtime costs were $31,767 and other expenses were $35,152 for a total of $66,918. These costs represent all incremental pay costs (overtime, etc) travel expenditures (meals, incidentals, travel and accommodation) as well as operating expenses processed by the date of the request. The RCMP will not release salary costs as this could expose security postures adopted to ensure security and could jeopardize any future Protective assignments.
Contacts:
Prepared by: Sean McGillis, Executive Director Federal Policing Strategic Direction (613-843-6866)
Approved by: Mike Duheme, Deputy Commissioner Federal Policing (613-843-6866)
Please ensure that the Minister’s Office can reach whoever is listed, cell number required.
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