Watchdog's report on controversial RCMP unit delayed due to lack of chairperson

A years-long investigating into a special RCMP building block that polices protests against imagination extraction in brits columbia river is finished but can’t be finalized because the RCMP's oversight body has been without a chairperson for more than a year. 

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) receives and oversees public complaints against the Mounties.

It recently announced the completion of a systemic investigation into the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), which drew national attention in 2019 when the unit launched a large-scale enforcement action against Wet’suwet’en-led opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline. 

The CRCC announced the probe in March 2023 following a flurry of public complaints. Now, that investigation is among 365 files needing approval to finalize. The problem is, there’s nobody at the agency with the authority to finalize them. 

It’s unclear why the CRCC has been without a chairperson since January 2025. The federal government is responsible for appointing someone to the top job. Requests for information from the Ministry of Public Safety were not returned by the time of publishing.

At the top level of the agency there is meant to be a chairperson and up to four other members. According to the CRCC, all of those positions are currently vacant. 

In October, a spokesperson for Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree’s office said the government was "in the process" of appointing a new chair.

"The longer it’s gone on, the more absurd it is," said Meghan McDermott, policy director for the B.C. Civil Liberties Association.

"To see month after month go by, and that there’s no announcements being made, is just devastating. It’s devastating from the perspective of police accountability, rule of law, just timely access to remedies."

The association, among others, has been awaiting the results of the systemic investigation, noting that the CRCC doesn’t often invoke its power to take on this kind of work. 

"So when they do use them it’s really, really important to find out what they found out," said McDermott. 

The Community-Industry Response Group, now called the Critical Response Unit, was created in 2017 to police anticipated opposition to the Trans Mountain Pipeline expansion. 

Since 2019, it has been the subject of more than 500 public complaints to the CRCC and sparked calls from organizations like the B.C. Civil Liberties Association and Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) to see the unit abolished. 

Grand Chief Stewart Phillip, president of UBCIC, said in an emailed statement, "The failure to finalize this investigation due to the absence of a federal appointment is reprehensible.

"Delaying oversight only reinforces the need for decisive action, and Canada must act now to restore accountability and uphold its commitments to Indigenous Peoples."

The majority of complaints against C-IRG came in response to civil court injunction enforcements and arrests in relation to Wet’suwet’en-led opposition to Coastal GasLink pipeline construction and protests against old-growth logging operations in the Fairy Creek area of Vancouver Island. 

Between 2019 and 2022, 572 public complaints were filed and 123 were accepted as per the criteria under the relevant legislation. 

In March 2023, CRCC announced it would undertake a systemic investigation into the governance, structure and practices of the unit. 

According to the terms of reference, this would include "a comprehensive file review to assess whether or to what extent the activities and operations of the C-IRG are carried out in accordance with legal standards, policy requirements, and leading practices." 

There are also questions about when a new organization, the Public Complaints and Review Commission, might be up and running. The federal government passed legislation in October 2024 to create the new agency that would absorb the CRCC and would also review complaints against the Canada Border Services Agency. 

Chantelle Bellrichard is an investigative journalist based in Vancouver.

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