B.C. RCMP boss retiring to take top police services job with province

Brenda Butterworth-Carr is leaving her job as head of the RCMP in British Columbia after less than two years to take a high-level position with the provincial government.

She will become assistant deputy minister and director of police services for the province replacing Clayton Pecknold, who is becoming the new police complaints commissioner. 

In an internal announcement to staff, Butterworth-Carr said she was retiring from the RCMP though she has felt privileged to be commanding officer and is proud of the B.C. employees.

"The professionalism you show in providing safety for our communities is one of the primary reasons I have accepted the opportunity.... I am committed to continuing to enhance, influence, and contribute in a meaningful way to the great work being done by the RCMP, and all other police services in the province, through our shared responsibilities of public safety," she wrote.

Mountie for over 3 decades

Butterworth-Carr joined the RCMP in 1987.  She is from the Tr'ondëk Hwëch'in Hän Nation in Yukon and was the first Indigenous woman to hold the top RCMP job in B.C.

British Columbia's E Division is the largest of the RCMP's 15 divisions in Canada as the RCMP carries out municipal policing across most of the province. 

Butterworth-Carr also served as the commanding officer of RCMP in Saskatchewan for five years. When she took the job in 2013, she became the first Indigenous woman to command an RCMP division.

She has also held a wide range of positions in police organizations at the provincial, federal and international level.

She took over E Division from Craig Callens, who also retired.

She says she will continue as commanding officer until March 4 when she will transition to the provincial government.