Royal Canadian Mounted Police Act

Marginal note:Complaints

• 45.53 (1) Any individual may make a complaint concerning the conduct, in the performance of any duty or function under this Act or the Witness Protection Program Act, of any person who, at the time that the conduct is alleged to have occurred, was a member or other person appointed or employed under Part I.

• Marginal note:Commission’s discretion

  (2) The Commission may refuse to deal with the complaint if, in the Commission’s opinion, the complaint

  • (a) has been adequately dealt with, or could more appropriately be dealt with, according to a procedure provided for under this Act or any other Act of Parliament;

  • (b) is trivial, frivolous, vexatious or made in bad faith; or

  • (c) is from an individual who

    • (i) is not an individual at whom the conduct was directed,

    • (ii) is not the guardian, tutor, curator, mandatary in case of incapacity or any other person authorized to act on behalf of the individual at whom the conduct was directed,

    • (iii) did not see or hear the conduct or its effects as a result of not being physically present at the time and place that the conduct or its effects occurred,

    • (iv) has not been given written permission to make the complaint from the individual at whom the conduct was directed, or

    • (v) has not suffered loss, damage, distress, danger or inconvenience as a result of the conduct.

• Marginal note:Complaints involving decisions made under Part IV

  (3) The Commission shall refuse to deal with a complaint concerning any decision under Part IV.

• Marginal note:Complaint by members or certain other persons

  (4) The Commission shall refuse to deal with a complaint made under subsection (1) by a member or other person appointed or employed under Part I if the complaint has been or could have been adequately dealt with, or could more appropriately be dealt with, according to a procedure provided for under this Act or any other Act of Parliament.

• Marginal note:National security

  (4.1) The Commission shall refuse to deal with a complaint concerning an activity that is closely related to national security and shall refer such a complaint to the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency.

• Marginal note:Notification of referral

  (4.2) The Commission shall notify the Commissioner if it refers a complaint to the National Security and Intelligence Review Agency. After doing so, it shall also notify the complainant of the referral.

• Marginal note:Time limit

  (5) The complaint shall be made within one year after the day on which the conduct is alleged to have occurred or any longer period permitted under subsection (6).

• Marginal note:Extension of time limit

  (6) The Commission or the Commissioner may extend the time limit for making a complaint if the Commission or the Commissioner, as the case may be, is of the opinion that there are good reasons for doing so and that it is not contrary to the public interest.

• Marginal note:Notice

  (7) If a complaint is made more than one year after the day on which the conduct is alleged to have occurred and the Commissioner does not extend the time limit for the making of the complaint, the Commissioner shall so notify the complainant and the Commission.

• Marginal note:Reception of complaint

  (8) A complaint shall be made to

  • (a) the Commission;

  • (b) any member or other person appointed or employed under Part I; or

  • (c) the provincial authority that is responsible for the receipt of complaints against police in the province in which the subject matter of the complaint arose.

• Marginal note:Assistance

  (9) The Commission shall, on the request of an individual who wishes to make a complaint, arrange for the provision of assistance to that individual in making the complaint.

• Marginal note:Acknowledgement and notification

  (10) As soon as feasible after a person or entity referred to in subsection (8) receives a complaint, the person or entity shall acknowledge the complaint in writing to the complainant and shall provide written notice of the complaint to the Commissioner and to the entities referred to in paragraphs (8)(a) and (c).

• Marginal note:Covert operations

  (11) The Commission and the Force are authorized to acknowledge a complaint or otherwise deal with a complainant in a manner that does not reveal, or from which may not be inferred, information concerning

  • (a) whether a place, person, agency, group, body or other entity was, is or is intended to be the object of a covert investigation or a covert collection of information or intelligence; or

  • (b) the identity of any person who is, has been or is intended to be engaged in a covert collection of information or intelligence.