The Last Guardians by Paul Palango

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Contact: Kelly Hechier

What's wrong with the Mounties?

Palango reveals all in the book everyone's been waiting for…
Paul Palango
THE LAST GUARDIANS
THE CRISIS IN THE RCMP... AND IN CANADA

The timing could not be better for Paul Palango's hard-hitting examination of an RCMP in crisis. As Canadians focus on the latest in a long series of problems - the treatment of protesters at the APEC conference in Vancouver - THE LAST GUARDIANS (MeClelland & Stewart, November 14, 1998), by investigative journalist Paul Palango takes a close look at the role of the Mounties in Canada, the relationship -between the police and the government, how several bad decades have reduced the once proud force to its present state, and. what it all means for Canadians.

Even RCMP Commissioner Philip Murray, in Macleans article by Palango entitled "Why the Mounties Can't Get Their Man," admitted that there's a problem in federal law enforcement, pointing to the rise of private firms offering security and investigation services. This, of course, goes hand-in-hand with the Mounties' declining role in the solving of economic crime. At the same the force has been involved in a series of embarrassing debacles - from barn-burning to Airbus (a humiliation that never really seems to go away), and now the APEC scandal.

About recent events Palango is blunt, "What happened in Vancouver is what a country can expect when there isn't a proper distance between government and police. The intent and integrity of the RCMP have been subverted by the political process."

Paul Palango's research for this book was a kind of one-man commission into the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, its current state, and its possible future. He'd written about them before in his best-selling book Above the Law, but this time the questions were even broader and tougher. How have social, political, and economic imperatives been used to usurp the rule of law in Canada? What are the implications for ordinary Canadians?

To find the answers, Palango set out across the country and, with the cooperation of the RCMP, talked to high-ranking officers, rode on patrols, visited training facilities, and spent time at RCMP headquarters. He wanted to see first-hand what it meant to be a member of the RCMP. From Sparwood, B.C. to Dauphin, Manitoba, Regina to Ottawa, Palango observed the different roles Mounties play. What he found was a force struggling against impossible pressures -both societal and political. Expected to be a guardian institution on the one hand, and facing crippling cutbacks and legal changes on the other, the RCMP has tried to be all things to all Canadians in a society that is not even sure what role it wants the force to play.

From hundreds of interviews, Palango has assembled a revealing picture of the RCMP, and a wide variety of opinions about what should be done. Some believe the force has become too politicized, while others believe it has become too big and too diverse. Should the Mounties be an elite national force in charge of policing across the country, or a force in charge of federal law enforcement?

As he writes: "Across, Canada the RCMP seems to be in a state of total confusion, performing so many different roles and carrying out so many duties that it is sometimes impossible for individual members to know who they are and what they are supposed to be doing.... They desperately want to be the best, and they are absolutely committed to serving Canada, but almost every man and woman in red serge feels that they are being Mocked from being all that they could be - handcuffed, as it were."

Palango concludes by recommending a hill public inquiry into almost every aspect of the RCMP, and a federal review of the issues of privacy and secrecy in Canada with an eye to making information more attainable for both the public and investigators. He believes that without radical change, the RCMP cannot protect the greater good - and that puts our very nation at risk. Because for Canada the Mounties really are the last guardians.

Paul Palango is a veteran investigative journalist A graduate of Carleton University's journalism program, he started Ms career at the Hamilton Spectator. In 1978, he joined the Globe and Mail, and served as editor, Metro editor, and, eventually, national editor, before leaving in 1990. During his tenure at the Globe and Mail, Palango's reporters swept the Centre for Investigative Reporting Awards in five consecutive years. In 1989, he accepted the Michener Award on behalf of the Globe. He is now a columnist for Hamilton Magazine, and, as a freelancer, writes articles for Maclean's Saturday Night, and Elm Street. His first book, Above the Law (McClelland & Stewart, 1994), spent months on the bestseller lists. He lives near Hamilton, Ontario.

Published by McClelland & Stewart - November 14, 1998

McClelland & Stewart acknowledges the assistance of The Canada Council for the Arts for its publishing program.

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