Canadian military police leaders refuse civilian oversight mandated by Parliament, watchdog report says
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The report by the Military Police Complaints Commission, a civilian watchdog created by Parliament, outlines a deteriorating situation in which the office of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal has been resisting independent oversight. 'The situation escalated from resistance to outright refusal to respect the oversight regime mandated by Parliament,' commission chairperson Tammy Tremblay wrote in her annual report released Tuesday.
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At times the office of the Canadian Forces Provost Marshal, or CFPM, has shut down complaints into police actions before they could be heard, the MPCC report noted. The CFPM has also refused to provide information needed for the commission to carry out its oversight function and has declined to follow recommendations on improving how it functions, according to the report. Among the recommendations the CFPM refused to accept was a request to remind military police officers of the importance of keeping evidence on file.
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The report also outlined how a bungled investigation by the CFNIS nearly allowed a person, eventually convicted of attempted murder, to escape justice.
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In that case, the CFNIS had been brought in to investigate a CFB Edmonton house fire in which a soldier was suspected of trying to kill her children. But the MPCC report pointed out that military police decided not to lay charges despite conclusions by the insurance company and the fire marshal's office that the fire had been deliberately set as well as the discovery of an apparent suicide note from the soldier.
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The Military Police Complaints Commission reviewed the case and determined there was evidence of a crime that ought to be reinvestigated. The soldier was found guilty in 2023 of trying to kill her three children by setting their house on fire.
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Canadian Forces Provost Marshal Brig.-Gen. Vanessa Hanrahan provided the Ottawa Citizen with a statement acknowledging 'the criticism toward the Office of the CFPM contained within the MPCC's 2024 Annual Report.'
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'Notwithstanding this, the CFPM remains fully committed to, and supportive of the MPCC's mandate,' Hanrahan's statement added.
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Hanrahan noted that her office carefully considered each request for information from the MPCC, 'providing disclosure not only under legal obligation, but also when it is determined that the information requested is pertinent to the matter being investigated by the MPCC.'
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