Broken Dreams, Broken Lives: An Analysis

Vincent J. Curtis

23 Nov 20

Ordinarily, I don’t write about RCMP matters.  However, the melodramatically titled “Broken Dreams, Broken Lives” subjects the RCMP to the same progressivist assault meted out to the CAF, and it may be useful to examine this report to gain some perspective.

Simply put, “Broken Dreams, Broken Lives” is a work of naiveté if you take it at face value.  It has a more sinister purpose if you don’t.  The undeclared ethic of the report is relentless progressivism, which makes its intellectual integrity questionable in my view.

The conclusion it reaches is that there is a toxic culture in the RCMP.  The carriers of the culture go unnamed, but they aren’t women, Indigenous, Racialized minorities, or LGBTQ2S+, which is the report’s way of spelling ‘Lesbian.’  Another hint: the carriers of this culture are misogynist and homophobic.  It seems that the toxic culture of the RCMP can only be “eradicated” if all the cis-gender hetero white males were removed from the force and replaced with pajama boys, women, and minorities.

Let’s keep in mind that one of the functions of the RCMP is busting drunks in northern Manitoba.

The Commissioner of the RCMP, Brenda Lucki, was shocked at the report.  She had no idea this culture existed.  Lucki is a career Mountie, having served for decades, and reached the top of the heap.  If she had no idea it existed, in my books this amounts to contra-indicating evidence.

The report admits, inadvertently, of more contra-indicating evidence.  “RCMP employees appear to blame the ‘the bad apples’ without recognizing the systemic and internal origin of this conduct.” [i.e. misogyny and homophobia]  From the perspective of RCMP employees, which must include some of the victims, the blame for bad conduct goes on the people doing it, not on some ephemeral rotten system of which the apples are but helpless agents.  Insiders don’t see a ‘toxic culture’ either.

The report is shockingly vague.  “Toxic culture,” “a change in the culture,” “comprehensive cultural change,” “fundamental, structural change,” “sexualized environment,” “toxic work environment,” “safe work workplace,” “inclusive and respectful workplace,” “incalculable damage to female members,” (since 2,604 were financially compensated, someone calculated!), “systemic barriers,” “transparency.” Continuous references to misogyny, homophobia, and racism.

‘Toxic culture’ and ‘damaged’ persons are metaphors; culture means whatever you want; systemic barriers and respectful workplaces are without explanation; and misogyny, homophobia, and racism are pejoratives.  A culture that is toxic because of misogyny and homophobia indicates nothing but subjective perceptions.

One example of a ‘systemic barrier’ is that some trainers don’t want to train female recruits.  A way of insuring that you’re never accused of sexual misconduct is never to be alone with a woman.  Self-protection is interpreted as a ‘systemic barrier’ and misogyny.

Equality doesn’t mean equal treatment.  One recommendation is for women not to be sent to detachments with inadequate housing and social support.

The naiveté of the report must arise from the authors’ never having worked in a large, hierarchical organization.  The RCMP has 19,000 sworn and 11,000 unsworn members, and the report covers thirty years.  Of course people in authority can abuse their power, sometimes actually and sometimes just perceived.  Being police gives you power over people, and some are attracted to policing for that reason.  Careerists are selfish and undermine rivals.  Perhaps a third of the force shouldn’t be in policing.  Welcome to the real world!

The enduring struggle of leadership is to maximize performance while coping with personnel problems.

The criticism, even of merit, never takes account of the fact that the purpose of the RCMP is to bust drunks in northern Manitoba (among other things).  The report takes policing as a given, like manna from heaven.  Policing just happens - without reference to the type of individual who will do the hard work. 

With its references to breaking up the force and fundamental transformation of culture, I see the aim of the report is to capture the RCMP for progressivism, as the media, academia, and politics have been.

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