The Royal Canadian Mounted Police have purchased software from a digital forensics software company that U.S. authorities claim is secretly headquartered in Russia.
Oxygen Forensics presented itself as an American firm to land contracts with the U.S. government, when it was in fact controlled by Russian nationals via a Cypriot shell company, according to a criminal complaint filed by the U.S. Justice Department in late September.
The RCMP’s chief officer in British Columbia has been relieved of his duties in connection with unspecified allegations dating back to between 2016 and 2018.
Deputy Commissioner Dwayne McDonald was removed from the position after the allegations were recently brought to the force’s attention, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme said in a statement.
“We are treating this matter with the attention and diligence it requires,” Duheme said, noting that the investigation is ongoing. He said no further details would be provided at this time.
With their bright red tunics, dark blue breeches and beige Stetsons, the officers of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police offer a globally recognised symbol of Canada.
The Mounties, as they are colloquially known, have been featured across popular culture for decades, from Hollywood films to the Simpsons.
But the RCMP is now facing an increasingly uncertain future amid questions about its core role and because of a string of scandals that range from systemic racism to sexual harassment and public safety failures.
Perhaps the most surprising part of the announcement of the joint Operation Hard Ball last week was how much the RCMP’s description of the actors involved in the killing of a Canadian Sikh activist differed from what it said only a short while ago.
“I firmly state that nothing has come out today to link the Indian government” to the operation, RCMP Deputy Commissioner Lisa Moreland told CBC’s Power & Politics.
“There’s no evidence to suggest through this organized crime investigation and the charges and the indictment laid forward that Indian officials were charged or involved
An RCMP officer based in Quebec has been charged with uttering threats online toward U.S. President Donald Trump while he was deployed to oversee security operations at the G7 summit last year in Alberta.
According to the RCMP, the officer, 34-year-old Evenson Dumerlus of St-Jean-sur-Richelieu, Que., allegedly posted a video on his Snapchat account “in which he made threatening comments” toward the president.
The RCMP did not divulge the nature of the alleged threat due to the ongoing investigation.
OTTAWA — The RCMP wants one more Black Hawk helicopter to help it patrol the Canada-U.S. border — but the federal government’s own regulations are preventing one of its suppliers from bringing another one into the country.
Canada’s federal police force is currently chartering three Black Hawks and has said it wants a fourth, according to court filings and parliamentary testimony reviewed by the Star.
The RCMP is describing Chinese law enforcement as a policing “partner” on par with agencies like the FBI, while refusing to disclose details of a cooperation agreement with Beijing, saying the terms cannot be shared without Chinese permission.
Blacklock’s Reporter says Senior Deputy Commissioner Bryan Larkin made the comments during testimony before the Senate national finance committee, where he defended the arrangement as a standard tool for international policing collaboration despite growing political scrutiny.
RCMP say six of their vehicles that were left at the Potlotek First Nation Thursday after officers left the scene on foot suffered damage that includes broken windows, flat tires, “urine-soaked interior surfaces” and dents.
In a news release issued Friday, RCMP said seven vehicles, including the six damaged ones, were removed from the Cape Breton community this morning. Some vehicles even had their tires removed, police said.
The RCMP is clarifying previous comments from Commissioner Mike Duheme, saying the police organization is aware of incidents of intimidation and harassment by foreign states, but is unable to identify current criminal links.
“What we can say is that the RCMP is aware of complaints of intimidation and harassment against certain communities across Canada. The RCMP, and the broader Government of Canada, is also aware that foreign states are engaging in such activities in Canada,” the RCMP told CTV News in a statement on Wednesday.
This guy works for Carney and his foreign pals not for us.
Newly released RCMP Security Service files reveal that it amassed more than 900 pages of intelligence on the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs (UBCIC) over more than a decade.
The files are among those obtained by CBC Indigenous through multiple Access to Information requests. They reveal how Canada’s Cold War-era domestic intelligence agency kept close tabs on hundreds of individuals and 30 Indigenous political organizations, under an umbrella concern about “Native extremism” through the late ’60s to early ’80s.
The Mounties called it the “Native extremism program.” Today, it sounds like a spy novel.
Intelligence dossiers stuffed with documents. Wiretaps. Paid informants. Covert operatives with code numbers like “A-828.” A Red Power dissident photo album. Surreptitious surveillance at homes, offices, airports and bars.
But it wasn’t fiction.
The RCMP has not recruited enough new officers or effectively assigned its members to meet its operational needs, according to a new report from the auditor general — raising concerns about public safety across the country.
“As a result of chronic shortages of front-line police officers, the RCMP faces a higher risk of police officer absences and burnout, which could make it more challenging for the force to prevent and investigate crime, maintain peace and order and contribute to national security,” Auditor General Karen Hogan wrote in a report tabled Monday.
After months of uncertainty hanging over the RCMP, Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree says the government is committed to keeping Mounties in the business of day-to-day policing across the country — while signalling that improving the federal crimes wing is his priority.
“Bottom line is, we could do both,” said Anandasangaree in an interview on Tuesday about the future of the storied — but troubled — national police force. The interview was conducted before news broke of the mass shooting in Tumbler Ridge, B.C., where the RCMP are the lead investigators.
The ability of the RCMP to do both local and federal policing has been called into question in recent years.
More than 400 members of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police were accused of misconduct in 2024, leading to at least 20 dismissals and resignations.
According to the RCMP, it logged 443 cases of alleged misconduct in 2024 involving 408 employees. Nearly one quarter of these cases resulted in “serious” disciplinary measures, such as being declared ineligible for promotion or being forced to forfeit more than 80 hours of pay. Ten RCMP employees were also demoted to a lower rank or level, which was more than double the number of demotions made over the previous two years.
