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w w w . C A N A D I A N L a w y e r m a g . c o m F E B R U A R Y 2 0 1 8 25 chairman and CEO Peter Herrndorf moved to Ottawa, and McPhail found himself in a new role: acting chairman for a year. "We went through a strategic planning process, had one budget cycle and the net result was that, for the first time in seven or eight years, we were actually able to increase the amount of money that went for programming," McPhail recalls. "I found I enjoyed the whole process." McPhail returned to his practice in 2004, but eventually a position with the Commis- sion for Public Complaints Against the RCMP came up. "Like many things, I had a call one day and was told there's new legislation coming in to create a new oversight body," McPhail says. Would he be prepared to take on the chairmanship on a part-time basis? He was, of course, game. However, he says, "like a great many things, they don't move quite as quickly as you might think and it was about four years later, having served on a part-time basis, that the new position was finally established." In January of 2010, McPhail was appointed as interim chairman of the com- mission and given a one-year mandate. "I have no background in policing or in criminal law, but as was explained to me at the time, the job was to be essentially neutral between the complainants and the RCMP," McPhail says. "Either experience as a defence counsel or Crown attorney would have caused my objectivity to be brought into question." But the position stretched well past 12 months, and throughout his time with the commission, he issued a number of high-profile public interest investigation reports. In 2014, when the body became the Civilian Review and Complaints Commission for the RCMP following the coming into force of the Enhancing Royal Canadian Mounted Police Accountabil- ity Act, McPhail was appointed full-time chairman. The new legislation gave the commis- sion the power to do systemic reviews for any aspect of policing, McPhail explains, and the Minister of Public Safety request- ed an investigation into workplace harass- ment in the RCMP. The final report and recommendations on workplace harass- ment in the force were released in May. "We consulted with various experts in the field — academics, legal specialists — and we asked individuals to come for- ward on a confidential basis and looked at previous reports," McPhail says, adding that the commission "cast our net pretty widely." They had an investigator that worked for the commission gathering information and a good team in the systemic review unit within the commission that head- ed this up. For its part, the RCMP was co-operative. Privately, McPhail received "quite a number of acknowledgments, let- ters, emails" from members of the RCMP. While he's sure there were people who didn't like the report, "from the rank and file, we got a really positive reception." "It had been accepted, through numer- ous reports, statements of the then-RCMP commissioner and the government them- selves when they settled the class action lawsuits that had been brought" that there was no question harassment existed with- in the force, McPhail explains. The com- mission looked at it a little differently — how could the problem be alleviated? Not an easy question to answer, McPhail notes, adding that the RCMP is an incredibly complex organization that — among other things — serves as Canada's national police force and the provincial police force for seven of the 10 provinces, along with a number of municipalities and indigenous reserves. "Just managing an organization of that sort is an incredible challenge," McPhail says, but the bottom line of the final report was that it is necessary to have governance changes. It's a big job that's been talked about for some time, McPhail notes, with different approaches to consider such as a board of management or a model of split- ting policing function. "Whether a federal government chooses to take that on or not, that's quite a different story." McPhail's tenure as chairman formally ended on Nov. 29, 2017 and he says he learned that while there are challenges in policing, "we can actually be quite proud. I think we've got at least as robust a system of policing review and oversight in Canada as they have anywhere in the world." When asked if he misses his role with the RCMP, McPhail says the work was "interesting and challenging, no question." "What made it easier was we had some really first-rate people at the commission," he adds, harking back to the lesson his grandfather taught him about the possi- bilities that open up when surrounded and supported by other like-minded individu- als. "There are challenges, and I don't want to minimize those, but that having been said there are a tremendous number of people who are there for the right reason." But McPhail says he's happy to get back to his practice, noting the seven years he spent as complaints commissioner was "considerably longer" than he originally intended. But there's always the chance his grand- father's legacy could come calling again. "If something else comes my way, I'm always interested in anything I can do to help out." THE ULTIMATE SOURCE For Today's Legal Profession Canlawyer.lawtimes@tr.com 416.609.3800 | 1.800.387.5164 Online bitly.com/CanLawyer-Subscription Free preview bitly.com/CL-FreePreview-17 Subscribe today! 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