RCMP shortage forces Gravelbourg to surrender bilingual police positions

An early French settlement,the town of Gravelbourgin south central Saskatchewanmarkets itself on billboards as "A Touch of Europe on the Prairies."

About 20 per cent of the town's 1,100 residents list French as their first language in the 2016 Census.

Soit was with great reluctance that, under pressure from the RCMP, town councilrecommended the police forcerecruitEnglish-only officers who are willing to take French lessons rather than bilingual officers.

We were more concerned about not having police officers, than having bilingual police officers.- Dan Lamarre, mayor of Gravelbourg

For months, the town and surrounding area has only had one police officer who can respond to calls.

Mayor Dan Lamarre said public safety trumps minority language rights.

"We were more concerned about not having police officers, than having bilingual police officers," Lamarre told CBC News.

Gravelbourgis one of 11 bilingualRCMPdetachments in Saskatchewan, out of a total of 113 detachments.

There are five paid positions;four of which were classified by RCMP as"priority one"andhad to befilled by bilingual police officers. The othercouldbestaffed by an English-only officer.

In recent months, three bilingual positions have been vacant and the sole bilingual officer is pregnant and restricted to desk duty. Only the anglophone officer can respond to calls in an area that spans 100 kilometres north-south, and at least 60 kilometres east-west. At times, the RCMPsends backfill from the city.

Still, Lamarre said it's not safe for the officers or the public.

RCMPultimatum

In early September, council invited RCMPInsp. Ted Munroto a private meeting to discuss security concerns related to a lack of officers.

According to the mayor and two councillors, Munrotold elected officials that the police force is struggling withstaffing shortages across Canada and that filling the bilingual positions was unlikely.

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The overall job vacancy rate nationwide atthe RCMP is 6.6 per cent.

"After trying to find someone we tried in vain we weren't able to find someone to fill the positions," RCMP Sgt. Joe Telus told Radio-Canada.

Officers must take French lessons

To deal with recruitment issues, Munrorevealed that the RCMP had already downgraded two constable positions from priority one (an officer who must speak English and French) to priority two(an English-onlyofficer who must take French lessons andbecome bilingual within two years). He then encouraged council to write a letter to the RCMPrecommending that it downgrade all four bilingual positions to priority two.

As a federal institution, theRCMP is required to offer services in both French and English in theGravelbourgarea, where more than five per cent of the population is francophone, according to theOfficial Languages Act and regulations. However, it's up to the RCMP to decide how it can provide that service to residents at all times.

On Sept. 18,town council sent the RCMP a letter recommending that it reclassify the remaining two bilingual positions a constable and sergeant topriority twoas well. It suggested police officers could start taking "beginner French" classes in November.

Lamarre said the RCMP made it clear that the town shouldeither accept anglophone officers or wait much longer for bilingual officers.

"It's not a decision that we took lightly because we are known as a bilingual community," the mayor said. "[TheRCMP] have been short staffed for quite some time. TheRCMPhad nobody that could fillthe bilingual positions, andwe felt it was important for the safety of the community and the surrounding community that we get our members back up to full force."

The RCMP said it won't downgrade all four positions. It has recruited one anglophone officer who will move to Gravelbourg this month, and expects to place another in the community very soon.

The Office of the Commissioner of Official Languages in Ottawa confirms that it is already investigating two official complaintson the matter.

A charter issue

For the past several decades, the town's francophone population has been shrinking. According to Census data, just five residents only speak French and not English.

Still, the francophone community isafraid to lose ground in its fight to protect minority language rights.

Former alderman Michel Vzina resigned from council because he couldn't support its decision to endorse downgradingbilingual positions. He scoffed at the idea that an anglophone officer could become fluent in French by taking lessons for two years on top of policing duties.

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"For matter of principle, I decided to resign," Vzina told CBC News. "I will be better able to defend [language rights]outside of council, since they don't want to defend that."

Vezina, who ispart of Gravelbourg'sfrancophone association,has filed a personal complaint to the official languages commissioner in Ottawa.

Another complaint from l'Association communautaire fransaskoise de Gravelbourg was filed by the group's president, Maria Lepage.

"It is a breach of our rights," Lepagetold Radio-Canada.

"We know that there are bilingual officers who are sent to unilingual anglophone regions," Lepagesaid. "It is a matter of organizing and responding to the need for what it is."