Ottawa lobbied RCMP Heritage Center for more outreach as part of expansion goal

OTTAWA – The director of the RCMP Heritage Center in Saskatchewan says that after completing a round of consultations on how it can be transformed into a national museum, the ball is now in Ottawa’s court.

“We really needed to hear from the Canadians,” said Tara Robinson, executive director of the Regina-based museum focused on the history of the Mounties.

“There has never been a more complex time for police in our country,” he said Friday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised during the 2019 election campaign that the Liberals would expand the RCMP Heritage Centre, which is currently run by a charity, into a national institution.

Involving a broad swath of Canadians, including LGBTQ and indigenous communities, in discussions about those efforts to grow was a key condition set by the federal Department of Heritage, which oversees national museums like the National Gallery of Canada.

Documents obtained by The Canadian Press through the access to information legislation suggest that there was some initial resistance to the scope of those inquiries, though Robinson stressed that it came “very early in the process.”

The to-and-fro about what it would take to create a national RCMP museum is contained in approximately 600 pages of emails and other documents from 2020 and 2021.

Located on the grounds of the RCMP Academy Warehouse Division in Regina, where troopers receive their training, the center serves as a museum about the history of the national police force, which began as the Northwest Mounted Police in 1873.

“Right now, the center is frozen in time,” Robinson said, adding that the exhibits only cover events up to the 1970s.

“We need to address residential schools,” he said. “We need to address how the RCMP has evolved.”

The center has spent years advocating for national museum status, which would require the federal government to amend the Museum Act. The national museums operate as Crown Corporations with Ottawa covering their operating costs.

According to the emails, federal officials estimated the process would take 18 to 24 months. But the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in early 2020 brought work on the file to a standstill.

By fall, the center inquired about progress, noting its goal to see its doors open as a national museum in 2023, coinciding with the RCMP’s 150th anniversary.

The then Deputy Minister of Canadian Heritage sent a letter, the contents of which have been partially redacted, outlining the specific steps the center needs to take to move the process forward.

That included doing more community involvement.

“While the RCMP has played an important role in our history, not all Canadians view the RCMP in the same light,” wrote Hélène Laurendeau, who has since retired.

Steve McLellan, the center’s board chair at the time, responded that while the next steps were clear: “I must point out that the degree of due diligence that you describe could be perceived by some as undue hesitation.”

He goes on to say that among other work it had done, the center had already collected around 4,400 responses through a survey, adding that the pandemic left the center in dire financial straits.

“A commitment was made and we believe that work needs to be accelerated to make this transition a reality,” McLellan wrote.

Even before COVID-19 struck, documents show that the center, which sees around 20,000 visitors a year, was struggling. It grossed $3.5 million in 2019, but spent $3.7 million.

Laurendeau wrote in December 2020 saying that due diligence was required to ensure that any future museums fit with the priorities of the Liberal government, “including the promotion of gender equality, reconciliation with indigenous peoples, green initiatives”, as well as to hear different perspectives.

By February 2021, McLellan again raised concerns about the request to hold national consultations without a stronger commitment from officials that the center would in fact become a national museum.

“We cannot dictate a vision for a museum that might not exist, and we are not prepared to expedite this process or risk public backlash due to a lack of federal support and adequate funding.”

It added that the department’s actions amounted to a “hurdle” and that the center lacked the resources to undertake further consultations “of the necessary scale or responsibility that Canadian Heritage has demanded.”

McLellan, who Robinson says has retired from the board, did not respond to emails requesting comment in time for publication.

Ultimately, the federal government offered the center $4.5 million in its spring 2021 budget. In late December, the center released a report on what it heard through a consultation process that began in early 2022.

Murray Sinclair, who was chairman of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, and Phil Fontaine, former national head of the Assembly of First Nations, were among those the report said were interviewed about the project and expressed their support.

“I want to see indigenous faces in the center when I go in. Black faces. female faces. Not a white male lineup,” Sinclair said, according to the document.

Robinson, who became the center’s executive director in 2021, said she agrees the initial survey wasn’t good enough. She said the center has since submitted the results of its recent consultation, as well as a corporate plan, to Canadian Heritage officials.

Robinson said he thinks it’s a “rock-solid” plan for a police museum that balances honoring the sacrifices of RCMP members, while “creating a space to have difficult conversations.”

Gaining national status by the end of the year remains the “dream,” he said, adding that the center also intends to apply for capital funding and raise some of the money itself.

A spokeswoman for Heritage Minister Pablo Rodríguez did not provide a timetable or say when an amendment to the Museum Law would be made.

“Canadian Heritage officials are consulting with the RCMP Heritage Center on an ongoing basis,” Laura Scaffidi wrote in an email.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published on January 8, 2023.

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