Will Canada’s Mounties become the ‘FBI of the North’?

Guest: Tonda MacCharles, Ottawa Bureau Chief

The Royal Canadian Mounted Police is a $4.2-billion dollar national force looking over eight provinces, three territories, 150 municipalities and 600 Indigenous communities. But now, sources say the PMO wants Mounties to be transformed into the “FBI of the North.” The idea would pull the RCMP out of the business of front-line, day-to-day contract policing and shift focus to challenges like national security and terrorism, financial crimes, cybercrime and organized crime. Such radical change will take time but, in the interim, the idea has found high-profile support in key senior RCMP and political offices.

This episode was produced by Sean Pattendon and Brian Bradley.