Good evening.
I am pleased and honoured to have this opportunity to join you today to celebrate your graduation. I felt especially fortunate to be here since it looked for awhile like Parliament would never end.
I am here on behalf of the Honourable Anne McLellan, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness, and I would like to congratulate you on your graduation today and wish you much success as you begin your careers with the RCMP.
Your choice of career shows dedication and courage. You are brave men and women who have selflessly chosen to serve our country, and for that all Canadians are thankful. At the same time, I am confident that you will find your career in the RCMP to be rewarding and fulfilling.We were reminded recently of the dedication and courage of RCMP officers - and indeed of all police officers - when we learned with sadness that four members were killed while on duty in Mayerthorpe, Alberta. And with the pain of that incident still fresh, another RCMP officer in Alberta was killed. These officers will not be forgotten. These members represent the commitment and dedication of all those who work to protect our citizens and communities.
And this work continues. As a member of the RCMP, each one of you must now assume important responsibilities. To do your jobs well, you must become part of the communities in which you serve. This is an essential requirement for effective policing. Every day, the RCMP - alongside local and provincial police forces - deal head-on with criminal activity, violence and corruption. We have to stay vigilant.
Terrorism, organized crime - these are all issues that are not going away soon. As you and the other graduating troops head off to your assignments across the country, you will be contributing to the legacy that the RCMP has been building since 1873 when the Mounties set out to establish peace in the West, and started building an organization that would help shape our country.
Today, the RCMP continues to be well respected. In fact, a survey conducted earlier this year by Ipsos-Reid found that almost nine out of 10 Canadians had confidence in the RCMP. I know a few people in Ottawa who would love to have support like that.
This is the kind of organization that you are joining - one that is respected and trusted by Canadians and by the world community. And you have worked hard to get here. It has been a long five months for you and your loved ones. You have put up with homesickness, sore muscles and long hours of training.
You have learned many things during your training, including the right amount of Armour All to apply to the seats of patrol vehicles so that you don't slide from side to side at every turn. You've also learned how to manage your time. For example, I understand there was a cadet on morning parade who had to run back to his block to get his epaulets. He only had three minutes to spare, so he flagged down Depot security and hitched a ride…very resourceful.
I understand that this troop is very good at working together to get things done, and that you keep your sense of humour even when the going gets tough. Those are skills that will continue to serve you well in your careers with the RCMP.
With the creation of the Department of Public Safety and Emergency Preparedness Canada, or PSEPC, and new funding to address resource gaps, the Government has further integrated policing and law enforcement. PSEPC is part of a larger portfolio that brings together key functions: policing and enforcement, corrections and crime prevention, security and intelligence, border services and border integrity, immigration enforcement, emergency management and others.
A good example of how this integrated approach is working are the Integrated
Border Enforcement Teams, or IBETs, first set up in 1996. IBETs help to protect
Canada and the United States from potential terrorism threats, and they impede
cross-border smuggling by land, air and water.
There are now 15 regions along the Canada-U.S. border covered by IBETs and the RCMP is a big part of their successes at combatting smuggling of illegal drugs, weapons, liquor, tobacco and vehicles. IBETs help to keep our borders open to legitimate trade and travel, but closed to criminals and terrorists.
Recent drug busts in June in the province of Quebec also demonstrate that the integrated approach to protecting public safety is working. In that bust, 300 agents of the RCMP, the Quebec provincial police and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency arrested 34 people and made seizures worth $5 million in connection with a marijuana trafficking ring.
In Parliament, we are also working to get results, in particular with work on the DNA Data Bank Legislation, which received Royal Assent in May of this year. The changes to the legislation will allow the Crown to make application for DNA testing for a much wider range of offences - potentially, any offence punishable by a sentence of five years or more.
The Government has also recently introduced key pieces of legislation to combat child exploitation and to protect children from sexual exploitation on the Internet.
In addition, the Government has invested in the RCMP to effectively continue protecting Canadians. In fact, over the last six years, the force's annual budget has grown from $2 billion per year to almost $3 billion per year.
All of these efforts and initiatives are important and necessary. But we know that without the dedication of people like you working on the front lines to enforce our laws and protect the citizens of Canada, none of it would matter.
You can be proud that you have become part of a tradition of excellence in policing in Canada. And you have worked hard to get here. Wherever your career takes you, you can be sure that your actions and your decisions will contribute to making change happen for the better. When you get up every day, put on your uniform and go out to do your job, you can be sure that your work will have a direct impact on the communities you serve.
You came to Depot from all parts of the country. Now you are being posted to all different regions of the country. Constable Olivier Caron is being posted to Porte Aux Basque, Newfoundland; Constable Dave Fisher is headed to Thompson, Manitoba; Constable Lisa Jones is going to Greenwater, Saskatchewan; and Constable Andy Chan is off to Burnaby, British Columbia.
When you go out there every day, remember to be guided by the core values of the RCMP: integrity, honesty, professionalism, compassion, respect and accountability.
I am sure that the training you have received here, and the guidance of the men and women who have taught you over the past five months, will serve you well.
We live in a country where the defining symbol of this nation, both here and around the world, is a man or woman in red serge. No other country in the world can, with such confidence, take such pride in its national police force - a force whose motto is 'Maintain the Right' - 'Maintien le droit.'
Once again, I congratulate you whole-heartedly on your graduation
and wish you all a bright and rewarding future. Enjoy your celebrations this
evening.