Photos reveal decrepit state of former RCMP training centre
Mounties claimed images of secretive Kemptville facility had been destroyed
It took an investigation by the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada and a 17-month wait to get the RCMP to release photos of a contaminated building it used as a training centre for about 20 years.
The former Canada Training Centre in Kemptville, Ont., south of Ottawa, housed a school used mainly for recruits of the force's Special I unit, whose members are called upon to install electronic surveillance equipment during undercover investigations.
The 38 photos released under the Access to Information Act reveal a decrepit building: mould on the walls, peeling paint, flooded floors and mice feces in many places including on a couch.
A Radio-Canada investigation published in December 2019 revealed that at least six RCMP members who had trained in that building died prematurely from neurological diseases or cancer. Others have suffered or are still suffering from serious health issues.
- Secretive RCMP training facility suspected in illnesses, deaths
- RCMP trying to ID anyone who passed through contaminated training centre
Radio-Canada had obtained copies of inspection reports that listed the many contaminants discovered in the building over time, but some of the reports were photocopies of the original documents, and the photos were barely visible.
Well before Radio-Canada published the story, it filed an access to information request in June 2019 to get the original colour photos seen in one of the copied inspection reports.
It took the RCMP five months to inform Radio-Canada the photos no longer existed.
"Please note that we have not been able to find any information relating to your request. The requested information has exceeded the retention period and has been destroyed," replied the head of the RCMP's access to information department in November 2019.
Convinced that the photos did indeed exist, Radio-Canada filed a complaint with the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada, which told the RCMP to search again.
"In the course of its investigation, the Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada asked the RCMP to perform a second search for documents to try and find the requested information," according to the information commissioner's final report on the investigation, released in December 2020.
"On the basis of comments received, the investigation concluded that the RCMP had not initially performed a reasonable search. More precisely, the institution had not, from the start, sent the request to all relevant departments."
The Office of the Information Commissioner of Canada concluded that Radio-Canada's complaint was well-founded, and the RCMP provided the photos seen here.
