Parliamentary Committee Notes: Funding for International Police Peacekeeping and Peace Operations (RCMP)

Date: March 1, 2022
Classification: Unclassified
Branch / Agency: Organization Name

Proposed Response:   

Financial Implications:

Background:

The IPP Program was initially created for a period of five years [REDACTED], to provide more permanent capacity to deploy Canadian police officers to international peacekeeping and peace operations missions. The IPP Program was subsequently renewed for five years in 2011, 2016, and 2021.The CPA has overarching policy coverage for up to 150 deployed police officers; however, CPA Ministers have currently given specific authorization for 132 deployed police officers to 12 missions in 7 countries.

Within the context of fiscal planning, the International Assistance Envelope is Canada’s main instrument for coordinating its international assistance, including official development assistance and funds GAC’s International Development Assistance Program, as well as international assistance components of other government departments. IPP program funding is transferred to the RCMP reference levels from the International Assistance Envelope (IAE) to cover salaries, employee benefits, operations and management costs, etc. Incremental costs specific to CPA deployments are funded through GAC’s Peace and Stabilization Operations Program (PSOPs) funding. The IPP Program is administered under the CPA.

The Ministers of Foreign Affairs, International Development and Public Safety have formal authority for all deployments, with the exception of ancillary deployments. Alongside diplomacy, policy, and other programming and deployment tools, the IPP Program is focused on strengthening local law enforcement capacity by providing training, mentoring and strategic advice to establish effective public law-enforcement institutions. It advances Canadian interests and values, by helping to build inclusive and accountable institutions in Fragile and Conflict Affected States (FCAS) that respect diversity and human rights, including the rights of women and girls. Its focus on long-term participation in missions provide the requisite time to build, facilitate and integrate critical changes within foreign security forces and institutions, helping to stabilize the security situation of FCAS. The Program contributes to a range of RCMP and GoC public safety policy objectives including combatting global and regional organized crime, drug trafficking, and terrorist threats.

Approximately 45% of deployed police officers are drawn from the RCMP, and 55% are from over 30 participating provincial, municipal, regional and First Nations police organizations, with police services from Kennebecasis, New Brunswick, and the Nishnawbe First Nation in Northern Ontario recently joining the program. Currently, the IPP Program has Canadian police officers deployed to Haiti, Mali, the Democratic Republic of Congo, Ukraine, and the West Bank, as well as to several international organizations and tribunals engaged in policing activities (i.e. United Nations affiliated organizations and the International Criminal Court). Whenever possible the Program strives to deploy senior women police officers to leadership roles within missions.

The IPP Program is voluntary in nature. In no instance is a Regular Member of the RCMP ordered to deploy abroad through the IPP Program. This means that partner agencies, including RCMP divisions, second their members to the Program for the duration of their deployments. Police partner agencies, including the RCMP, only release members subject to their domestic policing needs. It is not uncommon for agencies to temporarily suspend secondments based on domestic priorities. This practice has been exacerbated by the pandemic with a number of historically large agencies (Ontario Provincial Police, Toronto Police Service, Alberta RCMP) temporarily suspending their participation in the CPA.

Apart from bilateral and multilateral missions, the IPP Program deploys police officers on ancillary deployments, which typically last 12 months or less. The deployments can include short-term training initiatives; international courts and tribunals (e.g. October 2020 to Bangladesh to support a genocide case against Myanmar at the International Court of Justice); rapid response activities (e.g. natural disasters, crises response, post-disaster NAMs or disaster victim identification); and, development of international governance policy.

Given the fluidity of the current international deployment environment, the closing of large multinational missions, fluctuating and scaled-down mission requirements, and the impact of COVID globally, the IPP Program and the CPA Working Group are actively seeking to identify opportunities to increase deployment numbers by exploring the feasibility of expanding the number and scope of its missions.

Financial Implications

It is anticipated that IPP Program costs will continue to rise as the associated costs of preparing and sending a police officer on deployment has increased. Additionally, as a result of pay negotiations associated with the recent collective agreement, RCMP member salaries have substantially risen as have associated allowances and benefits. Prior to seeking authorization for a new mission, a comprehensive evaluation of the costs is always performed in order to ensure the program has the funding available to make that commitment.

Funding stems from Budget 2018 and the RCMP has sought access to funding in line with policy authority until 2025-26.  The RCMP will continue to manage the program via a pre-existing Special Purpose Allotment (SPA) called International Peacekeeping and Peace Operations, which includes carry-forward authority.   

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