Response to parliamentary committees and external audits

Government Response (PDF, 299 KB) to the Sixteenth Report of the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics, entitled: Oversight of Social Media Platforms: Ensuring Privacy and Safety Online

In December 2024, the Standing Committee on Access to Information, Privacy and Ethics (ETHI) issued its sixteenth report, which included eight recommendations intended to improve the federal legislative frameworks and policies that apply to social media platforms. The Government Response, tabled in October 2025, was a collaborative effort involving the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP), Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada, Treasury Board of Canada, Canada Heritage, Public Safety Canada, and Communications Security Establishment Canada. Of the eight recommendations in the report, the RCMP was implicated in Recommendation 7, which called on the Government of Canada to increase funding to the RCMP for education and fighting cybercrime. The Government Response acknowledged Recommendation 7 and highlighted that the Government of Canada’s “Get Cyber Safe” campaign – a national public awareness campaign created to inform Canadians about cyber security, the simple steps Canadians can take to protect themselves online, and cyber security best practices – is supported by the RCMP’s National Cybercrime Coordination Centre and the RCMP’s Canadian Anti-Fraud Centre.

Government Response (PDF, 336 KB) to the Second Report of the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage (CHPC), entitled: Harms Caused by Illegal Sexually Explicit Material Online

In November 2024, the Standing Committee on Canadian Heritage (CHPC) issued its second report, which included eight recommendations to address harms caused by illegal sexually explicit material online. The RCMP was implicated in the Report under the theme of “Prevention,” which included Recommendations 1, 2, and 7. These recommendations call for the collection of local and national intersectional data on the nonconsensual distribution of intimate images through a centralized database developed with federal and provincial statistics services. The Government Response emphasized that Public Safety has led the National Strategy for the Protection of Children from Sexual Exploitation on the Internet (National Strategy), alongside the RCMP, to provide coordination and oversight of federal efforts to combat online child sexual exploitation through prevention, prosecution, protection, and partnerships. The National Child Exploitation Crime Centre (NCECC) is the national law enforcement arm of the National Strategy. Operated by the RCMP, the NCECC serves as the central point of contact for investigations related to the online sexual exploitation of children involving Canadian victims and offenders.

Government Response (PDF, 560 KB) to the Sixteenth Report of Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security (SECU), entitled: Fighting the Phenomenon of Vehicle Thefts in Canada

In December 2024, the Standing Committee on Public Safety and National Security issued its sixteenth report, calling for the Government of Canada to address the vehicle theft crisis. The RCMP was implicated in the Government Response, given its role, alongside provincial and municipal police services, in combatting auto theft and supporting criminal investigations of stolen vehicles. The Government Response was divided into three pillars. RCMP implications fell under Pillar 1: Intelligence and Information Sharing, and Pillar 2: Intervention. The Government Response indicated that the RCMP contributes to information- and intelligence-sharing related to organized crime and auto theft through: RCMP stewardship of the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada (CISC); information sharing with provincial partners via the Canadian Integrated Response to Organized Crime Committee (CIROC); its role as a co-chair of the National Port Security Committee (NPSC); and supporting its NPSC partners by facilitating discussions between impacted organizations on a possible solution to ease the sharing of information/intelligence. The Government Response emphasized that the Government of Canada is committed to supporting the RCMP and other law enforcement agencies in combatting organized crime and auto theft.

Government Response (PDF, 311 KB) to the Standing Committee on the Status of Women (FEWO) report, entitled: Coercive Control in Canada

On November 2025, the Standing Committee on the Status of Women (FEWO) presented its first report, which included 13 recommendations to address coercive control in the criminal and family justice systems. In the Government Response, the RCMP provided a response to recommendations under Theme 3: Public education, awareness and training (Recommendations 6, 8, 20). The Government Response highlighted that the RCMP provides information on human trafficking to transportation services employees, religious communities, other federal departments, provincial victims’ services staff, and provincial/territorial partners. The RCMP also provides related training to its members and other law enforcement personnel, service providers, and frontline employees.

Recruiting for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police

In March of 2026, the Office of the Auditor General (OAG) released its independent auditor’s report, titled Recruiting for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, containing recommendations for RCMP recruitment. The audit sought to determine whether the RCMP recruited and posted new regular members in a timely and effective way to meet operational requirements. There were 6 recommendations:

• Recommendation 21 regarding the RCMP ensuring that its workforce planning can provide a comprehensive basis for recruitment, to determine the number of police officers it needs to fully staff all business lines of the force to meet operational requirements.
• Recommendation 31 regarding the RCMP aligning its recruitment targets with the number of police officers required to fully staff all business lines of the force to meet operational needs. These targets should account for the fact that not all cadets graduate from the Cadet Training Program.
• Recommendation 32 regarding the RCMP determining how to increase the capacity needed at Depot to train enough cadets to meet operational requirements and implement those changes to bring the force up to full operational strength.
• Recommendation 39 regarding the RCMP implementing interim measures to reduce the vacancy rates to below the 7% critical threshold in all divisions; establishing a timeline and implementing actions to reduce its vacancy rate to below the existing maximum target of 2.6% in all divisions; and conducting regular performance measurement against targets and reporting annually on progress.
• Recommendation 53 regarding the RCMP maximizing the capacity of its cadet training classes by using information it has about bottlenecks in the application process to address delays and improve processing times. This includes staffing key positions that support application processing and allocating internal resources to meeting processing time service standards.
• Recommendation 57 regarding the RCMP measuring the results of the Force Generation program against the total number of police officers it needs to hire to meet operational demand.

In March 2026, the Government of Canada responded to the OAG report on Recruiting for the RCMP, acknowledging the work of the OAG and welcoming its recommendations. Recruitment continues to be a top priority for the organization and the RCMP is fully committed to the transformation that is needed to ensure it can attract and recruit candidates efficiently to meet its operational requirements and continue to build a stronger and more modern RCMP.

Public Service Commissioner Of Canada - Audit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Authority to Appoint Casual Workers for More Than 90 Days

In January of 2026, the Public Service Commission of Canada (PSC) released it’s audit report titled, Audit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s (RCMP) Authority to Appoint Casual Workers for More Than 90 Days. The audit had the following 3 objectives:

1. To determine if the RCMP has a framework in place to support sub-delegated managers when appointing casual workers for more than 90 working days during the same calendar year
2. To determine if the appointments of casual workers for more than 90 working days during the same calendar year meet the requirements set by the RCMP.
3. To determine if the appointments of casual workers for more than 90 working days during the same calendar year meet the circumstances prescribed in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police Casual Employment Regulations.

The audit resulted in 3 recommendations for the RCMP:

• Recommendation 1 regarding the RCMP conducting a review of the 21 non-compliant cases to determine why the existing framework and monitoring activities were insufficient to detect them, identifying corrective measures to strengthen future compliance and reporting actions taken to the PSC.
• Recommendation 2 regarding the RCMP reporting annually to the PSC on the use of the authority to appoint casual workers for more than 90 working days in one calendar year.
• Recommendation 3 regarding the PSC’s Policy and Communications Sector discussing the audit results with the RCMP to determine whether the existing regulations meet the RCMP’s needs or whether adjustments are required.

In January of 2026, the RCMP responded to the PSC’s Audit of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s Authority to Appoint Casual Workers for More Than 90 Days, acknowledging the work of the PSC and welcoming its recommendations. The RCMP looks forward to the upcoming consultations with the PSC to further examine the above recommendations.

Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages

There were no audits conducted by the Commissioner of Official Languages within the requested timeframe that resulted in any recommendations specific to the RCMP.