Northern and isolated RCMP detachments have become “chronically and at times critically” understaffed, according to an internal evaluation report — the latest document pointing to retention and recruitment issues within the storied organization.
The June 2026 evaluation, made public last month, found Mounties’ interest in staffing northern and isolated posts is limited and the RMCP’s recruitment practices are not aligned with the staffing needs in these detachments.
“Northern and isolated posts face a complex set of barriers that significantly hinder recruitment, retention and overall staffing stability. A central challenge is isolation, both physical and organizational,” said the report.
Several divisions report critical shortages in their northern and isolated posts.
Hard vacancy rates, where positions are open due to things like retirements, resignations or permanent transfers, were over 20 per cent in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut during the third quarter of this fiscal year. Manitoba’s vacancy rate hovered just below 20 per cent, while Saskatchewan reported nearly 15 per cent.
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“A critical theme identified in participant feedback was the cumulative impact of operational pressures, isolation and the severity of violence in some posts on mental health,” said the report.
Women, racialized members and those with adult dependents who took part in the RCMP’s review rated a feeling of isolation as a barrier higher and more often than other groups.
The report also noted a generational shift “with younger members placing greater emphasis on proximity to family and work-life balance than on traditional notions of duty.”
Testifying before a parliamentary committee earlier this fall, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme said that’s changed in his decades with the organization.
“When I went through training, a lot of people were seeking a northern adventure — and it was an adventure. It’s a good way to be embedded in community policing. It’s completely different policing,” he said.
“When people have to mobilize a family, or if they’re divorced and have shared custody, it’s a challenge sometimes to get people up to the North.”
The RCMP has tried to bring in strategies to confront some of those issues with limited success, according to the report. One program gave members their preferred division in exchange for first accepting a posting to a less desirable location. However the report raised concerns about the RCMP approving more postings than they could accommodate.
Historically the RCMP would assign cadets to their first post after completing their training. In 2023, it brought in a plan that allowed new applicants to choose their division. While that successfully increased the number of applicants, it resulted “in divisions in need receiving less cadets, thus compounding existing staffing challenges.”
The report said that recruiting for policing careers has become increasingly challenging across Canada, not just for the RCMP. But it noted that competitive environment can make it harder for the force to attract candidates who don’t want to move.
“Despite these strategies and incentives, northern and remote detachments are chronically, and at times critically, understaffed,” according to the evaluation.
Kent Roach, author of the book Red Alert: The Future of the RCMP, said as the federal government looks to shore up Arctic security it needs to consider the long-term viability of the RCMP as the police of jurisdiction in the North.
“It seems to me that we’re spending billions on Arctic security, national security, while there are some real problems with community security and community safety in the Far North,” the University of Toronto professor said.
“You cannot have national security and national sovereignty in the North without doing the basics of community safety.”
Retention and recruitment issues are RCMP-wide. An auditor general report earlier this year said the RCMP had not recruited enough new officers or effectively assigned its members to meet its operational needs “which could make it more challenging for the force to prevent and investigate crime, maintain peace and order and contribute to national security.”
In his book, Roach argues it’s not feasible for the RCMP to continue to split its mandate between the front-line policing it does in eight provinces and the three territories and its federal policing mandate leading investigations into terrorism, espionage and organized crime.
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Despite calls for transformation, Prime Minister Mark Carney’s government has said it will keep the RCMP’s dual mandate.
“I am not terribly optimistic about how we’re going to pull out of this downward spiral,” said Roach.
The report recommended developing a co-ordinated strategy to address northern staffing needs and calls on the RCMP brass to explore opportunities to increase targeted recruitment efforts to attract applicants who best meet the requirement in these posts.
It also calls on leadership to review and modernize incentives to help the organization attract and retain members in northern and isolated locations.
According to the report, the RCMP has reviewed and accepted the findings and recommendations.
