RCMP reconsidering silence over whether it's investigated N.W.T. officers for use of force

The RCMP will reconsider its decision to keep silent on whether it's investigating two of its officers in the N.W.T. for excessive use of force, a recent report shows.  

Two Yellowknife RCMP officers were charged with assault after a 2020 incident involving a Tłı̨chǫ woman at the local detachment. Those charges were later stayed, but one group of lawyers that advocates for improvements in policing wants to know if the RCMP has conducted its own internal investigation in the matter.

The RCMP is considering whether it will say. 

Tom Engel, chair of the Criminal Trial Lawyers' Association's policing committee, initially asked about the internal investigation in 2022 and former RCMP Commissioner Brenda Lucki responded at the time that it was a private matter and that the RCMP was prohibited from disclosing personal information of its employees. 

Engel, however, argues that it's a matter of public interest. 

"Whenever a police officer uses force, that's a matter of public interest — and I would think that would be obvious to most Canadians," he said. 

He took the complaint to the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP (CRCC), an independent agency. The commission agreed with Engel that the investigation is a matter of public interest.

The CRCC found that the former RCMP commissioner did not reasonably consider the issue and recommended the RCMP reconsider the matter and disclose whether there's been an investigation into the officers, unless there is a justified reason to withhold that information. 

In a report from December 2024, RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme agreed to reconsider. He said there should have been more justification of the decision not to disclose whether there's been an investigation.    

Duheme also wrote that a section of the Privacy Act — the legislation Lucki cited in choosing not to disclose the information — is discretionary. He said that means that the RCMP can choose whether to disclose the information or not.  

Engel said he doesn't think any of the possible reasons for withholding that information would apply. 

"I'm not saying that we're looking for a particular outcome of an investigation. We just want to know, was there an investigation?" Engel said. 

2020 incident 

The 2020 incident that lead to the officers being charged involved Tracella Romie, who was then 25. 

Romie was arrested at the Yellowknife liquor store for allegedly assaulting staff and refusing to leave. After the arresting officers brought her to the detachment, Const. Francessca Bechard and Cpl. Jason Archer removed Romie's handcuffs to search her. 

Video footage from inside the detachment shows Bechard allegedly punching Romie.

A trial began in 2022 and a fellow officer at the Yellowknife detachment testified as a witness to say that he saw the punch. But the prosecution ultimately stayed the charges and told the court they don't have a reasonable prospect of conviction. 

"Given all those circumstances, one would think that the RCMP commissioner would say, 'well, we'd better investigate this,'" Engel said. He said that even though the criminal charges were stayed, "that doesn't mean there weren't any RCMP Act breaches."

RCMP conduct hearings are open to the public and listed on a schedule available online.

Nobody from the police force was available to explain why some conduct hearings are public, while the former commissioner deemed it private information to disclose whether Archer and Bechard were investigated.