THE RCMP CLOSES 5 QUEBEC DETACHMENTS
QUEBEC RCMP MEMBERS’ ASSOCIATION DENOUNCES THE CLOSURE OF 1/3 OF ITS RCMP SERVICE POINTS IN THE PROVINCE
MONTREAL, July 10, 2018 – The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) will close 5 of its Quebec detachments this Friday, thus eliminating one third of its service points in the province. The detachments affected serve the following regions:
– Laurentides-Lanaudière-Outaouais (Saint-Jérôme)
– Abitibi-Témiscamingue-Nouveau-Québec (Rouyn-Noranda)
– Saguenay-Lac-St-Jean (Chicoutimi)
– Drummondville
– Trois-Rivières
The closures will directly affect the families of 19 employees who will be relocated. The detachments employed more than 75 police officers, civilian members and public service employees.
“We are denouncing this severe reduction of services in the regions,” said Serge Bilodeau, President of the Quebec Mounted Police Members’ Association (QMPMA), which represents RCMP members in the province. “These cuts in services were done very quietly under the guise of a change of mandate, but, in the end these closures were done anonymously and with indifference. These measures drastically prevent the regions affected to defend themselves from the threats of organized crime and terrorism, as well as other problems that would ordinarily be dealt with by the RCMP.”
These closures are part of a staffing reorganization campaign announced in 2013 by then RCMP Commissioner Robert Paulson. In 2015 the RCMP closed detachments in Saint-Bernard-de-Lacolle and Stanstead, reducing 40 per cent of its points of service as part of federal government cuts. “The Trudeau Liberal government is merely continuing the work of Stephen Harper’s Conservatives,” said Bilodeau.
In 2004, the QMPMA condemned the closure of 9 RCMP detachments in the province, warning that the move would make it a free for all for organized crime and terrorism, leaving many regions in Quebec isolated and without federal police protection. At the time, there were 23 detachments in the province. After this Friday’s closures, there will only be a pair of detachments in Quebec City and Montreal, and 7 points of service in Quebec’s outlying regions.