Inquiry into Nova Scotia mass shooting recommends closing RCMP Depot Division

Every aspiring Mountie has had to train at the RCMP’s Depot Division in Regina before wearing the red serge.

But questions were raised about the future of Depot on Thursday, when the final report from the public inquiry into the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia was released.

One of the report’s recommendations suggested closing Depot and replacing it with a Canadian Police College. The report said the RCMP should phase out the Depot model by 2032 and create a three-year degree-based model of police education for all police services in Canada.

“The Depot model of police training is inadequate to prepare RCMP members for the complex demands of contemporary policing, and the RCMP’s failure to embrace a research-based approach to program development and police education and its lack of openness to independent research impairs its operational effectiveness,” the report read.

The report found a number of failures in how the Mounties responded to the mass shooting that killed 22 people, and the red flags that police missed in the years leading up to the murders.

According to the report, RCMP commanders ignored eyewitness accounts, failed to promptly warn residents of the danger and failed to use basic investigative steps.

The inquiry also called for a ban on all semi-automatic handguns and all semi-automatic rifles and shotguns that discharge centrefire ammunition.

Scott Moe, Carla Beck speak in support of RCMP Depot

Though Premier Scott Moe said he hadn’t yet had a chance to read through the report recommendations in detail when asked about it Thursday morning, he did express some concerns about the recommendations around the Depot.

“We’ve been a very strong supporter, not only of Depot here in Regina, but RCMP in general and adding officers into our communities across the province,” said Moe.

The premier was worried about adding more time to officer training when there’s already a shortage of police officers in communities.

“We need more officers, actually, to go through Depot so that they can provide that service of providing safety to Saskatchewan people,” he said.

“Without seeing the details of the recommendation, my first blush would be that this would be another hurdle in training more officers.”

Moe did say that there are municipal police forces in the province that get along without training at Depot, so it’s possible to train officers in other ways.

“But, in saying that, do we take issue with or think that the training and the opportunities that Depot brings to Regina or those recruits is in any way inferior or should be removed? No,” the premier said.

The issue was one of those rare occasions when both sides of politics in Saskatchewan agreed – Sask. NDP Leader Carla Beck also doesn’t want the training facility shut down.

“That’s something that is deeply concerning, and not only as an MLA for Regina, but also as someone very proud of the tradition of the RCMP in this province,” said Beck.

She also brought up the existing officer shortage.

“That delay would be deeply concerning,” she said.

“I don’t think we can afford to have those delays of getting those officers out and into communities.”

If there are concerns with the training RCMP officers are getting, that’s something to look at, according to Beck, but she said shutting down Depot seems an extreme measure.

Beck took it further, saying Depot is important to Regina and the province, not only for the jobs it creates but for the sense of pride and history as well.

“If you look at a tourism ad for the city of Regina, most likely you’re going to see the red serge, you’re going to see Depot in those ads. It’s a source of pride, not only for the city, but for the province, the history there,” she said.

Beck said she wants to see all levels of government work together to keep Depot open and in Regina.

— With files from The Canadian Press and CJME’s Lisa Schick