New Council To Work On Task Force Recommended Police Reforms

Ottawa-A new five person Council including a former RCMP and a College professor among its members was announced by Public Safety Minister Stockwell Day.

The RCMP has been under fire for various issues, including a lack of accountability and various management issues.  The new council would oversea changes that have been recommended by a key task force that met last year.  The Task Force examined issues within the RCMP police force and found many areas that need change.

In its final report the Task Force recommended 40 different issues that need to be addressed, including the concept of making the RCMP separate and its own entity from the Federal Government.

The chairman of the new five-member council was named.  David McAusland is a person with a lot of governance experience in the corporate world. He has served previously as vice-president of development and CLO at Alcan, Inc.

The new council is expected to meet and deal with the task force recommendations.  The first report from the new council is expected by September 30th, and another follow up report from the new council is slated for March of 2009.