So the RCMP have agreed to a settlement figure for harassment to female staff. A Hundred Million dollars set aside by the Government of Canada to satisfy justice to complainants. Now the CBC is reporting that to make things fair they are opening it up to the male employees of the force to do the same. Those that were denied promotion and could not participate in the more meaningful parts of the job will be able to be involved in a class action settlement as well.
This is in the context of Senate hearings into the force and the most relevant issue, unionization. The Commissioner is on record as saying that safety and staffing details not under his control would interfere with his ability to mange cases. Giving a job steward the ability to grieve a deployment of officers for safety reasons is against his management needs.
Down town office File photo KDG
The RCMP is a para military organization and some of the bonding to those that go far still comes from dress uniforms, mess dinners, esp re deco rps. The tactic of causing wars over eons of time rests in the military handlers to justify action this usually means sympathy which can come using vilification. This is sometimes provoked and size, power,honor and exclusion have a lot to do with the setting of the public and the military against a real or constructed enemy.
So will that management style be involved in the distribution of settlement monies and will it go on to give the Mounties resources to set up new lines of command for the sympathy /power dynamic. A reasonable person does not have to go far to see that a petite officer and a powerful perpetrator create a sympathy imbalance, or a powerful large officer and a construction worker create a sense of equity. So this dynamic is apparently desirable to managing the force in its operations. Will the 100s of millions used to sort it out go into creating the climate once again for internal harassment?
Why can’t the force be unionized, other civil servants go directly to the union when asked to do something wrong by newly elected or deputy’s.
As far as the starry eyes of those motivated by glory, we remember the words, of Sir John French, the commander of the British in the Boar war, ” I would give all my fancy uniforms, my ceremonial swords and my time at court if I could just have my son back.” Sir Johns son was lost to Boar sharpshooters, with dozens of others in an action. The young men were all shot in the left hand side of the head.
It seems to have not been enough as he was once again the commander of the British in the first world war. Sir John was responsible to manage millions of sons and the sympathies to maintain the interest in slaughter.
As to an answer the song writer may still be right, the answer my friend is “blowing in the wind.”
Still and after reform it goes on, so happy thoughts as we get ready for another November 11th with medals and missing limbs.
Can the harassment thing or habituated power dynamics be the end of the Country, you tell me or tell the commissioner to manage civilly with a unionized force.
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On this Day: October 27th 1967
The Baltimore Four pour blood on the Selective Service records in protest of the war in Southeast Asia.
Kevin Griffiths
percypaschal
