Supreme Court to examine timeliness of tribunal’s decisions on RCMP labour issues

OTTAWA — The Supreme Court of Canada will look at whether a tribunal’s decisions on RCMP labour issues should be issued within strict timelines.

The top court has agreed to review the handling of cases by the RCMP External Review Committee — an independent, quasi-judicial tribunal that examines appeals of labour relations matters and provides recommendations to the RCMP commissioner.

Several RCMP members went to Federal Court after waiting many months for the external review committee to address their appeals of internal decisions on harassment complaints or disciplinary matters.

The members asked the Federal Court for an order requiring the committee to make findings and recommendations on each of their appeals within 30 days, and a second order requiring the committee to publish service standards applicable to every appeal file.