July 6, 2005: RCMP Pursuit Of “Equity Employment For Visible Minorities' ” Policies Has Become A Truly Public National Embarrassment
PRESS RELEASE
So-called “equity employment for visible minorities” policies have long been a cause of concealed, institutionalized discrimination against mainstream Canadians, but now they have become a truly public national embarrassment, says Immigration Watch Canada.
According to an editorial in The National Post, Canada's national police force, “the RCMP, complained this week that it had too few qualified recruits last year to replace the number of officers who retired. Applications were off by 28% and only 232 new officers joined, rather than the 300 hoped for.
“If too few well-qualified applicants are seeking admission to the RCMP's academy in Regina, it is likely because the Mounties have done all they could in the last decade to scare off young white males. While brass deny it, for a time in the mid-1990's, the RCMP had a 'no white males' policy. Some recruiters admitted to applicants that the force had a five-year backlog of Caucasian men and wouldn't consider any more until it reached its gender and racial hiring goals.
“Just to get an interview, white males needed a score of 115 on the police aptitude test, women needed a 96 and visible minority candidates an 86. Such quotas are said to permeate promotions too.”
Immigration Watch Canada makes the following points about the RCMP case:
(1) Since “equity employment for visible minorities' ” policies began in the mid-1980's, they have forced or brought pressure upon thousands of employers across Canada to give hiring preference to so-called visible minorities, 84% of whom are recent immigrants. In effect, it has legislated discrimination against non-visible minority Canadians. It has also bred a sense of entitlement in these recent immigrants. Shortly after arrival, many have come to believe they are owed an instantaneous share of Canada's resources. (Equity employment policies exist for women, aboriginals, the disabled and visible minorities. The first three are separate issues.)
(2) The recent complaints of RCMP recruiters that they have a shortage of potential workers (recruits) are simply not true. The workers the RCMP needs are here in Canada and thousands of them have applied to join the RCMP. RCMP recruiters suffer from “equity employment for visible minorities” pressure. Many other Canadian employers suffer from the same ailment.
(3) The number of visible minorities hired by the RCMP and other Canadian employers as a result of so-called “equity employment for visible minorities” measures has never been revealed to Canadians. However, because of the long and widespread practice of such “equity employment” hiring, there is little doubt that the number is very high and probably out of proportion. In effect, “equity employment for visible minorities” has destroyed or seriously dampened the career aspirations of many mainstream Canadians. (We include below a recent letter from a B.C. mother whose well-qualified son's application to the RCMP was denied because he was a non-visible minority Canadian. In other words, he was a white male.)
(4) The damage done by “equity employment for visible minorities' ” policies in the RCMP and in thousands of other employer groups has been great, but a pathetically small amount of attention has been directed towards this problem. In the past, RCMP recruiters and many other employers have openly admitted to white male recruits that the RCMP and others would not hire them because they were white males. These blatant admissions in the past should have been enough to cause an investigation and end of such “equity employment” policies. Recent allegations against the RCMP should be the proverbial straw for this programme.
(5) “Equity employment for visible minorities' ” advocates have frequently played on the sympathies of Canadians by telling them that such “equity employment” helps people or that it “gives people a hand up”. What they neglect to say is that so-called “equity employment for visible minorities” is really “inequity employment for non-visible minorities” and that it hurts many mainstream Canadians and that it “gives many a hand down”.
(6) As critics have repeatedly stated, Canada is in the absurd position of bringing far more immigrants than are needed or than the economy can absorb. The result is that the economic performance of those who have arrived in the past two decades is far below that of either Canadian-born or of newcomers who came earlier. “Equity employment for visible minorities' ” advocates and government blame surplus immigrants' failures on discrimination. But the reality is that these new immigrants face both a surplus labour problem and typical immigrant difficulties such as inadequate English or French, unfamiliarity with Canadian culture, and, in the case of a few, difficulty in Canadian evaluation of their credentials.
(7) Proof that there was or is no alleged “systemic” discrimination by Canadian employers against visible minorities can be seen from the fact that many visible minorities who grew up and were educated in Canada were doing just as well as or better than non-visible minority Canadians in the mid-1980's when “equity employment for visible minorities' ” legislation was enacted. The earnings of Canadian-born of Chinese and Japanese extraction, for example, were then above the national average. The earnings of these Canadian-born continue to be so.
(8) So-called “equity employment for visible minorities' ” measures and high-immigration levels are inextricably connected. Although advocates have vigorously promoted both, they have never provided substantiating evidence for either. Extensive bureaucracies have been set up to “manage” both programmes. Like multiculturalism, “equity employment for visible minorities” policies depend on high immigration levels for their continued existence. Both high immigration and “equity employment for visible minorities' ” programmes try to perpetuate themselves and both are unnecessary. The recent RCMP case also shows the absurdity of both.
(9) Government has to admit that shifting the blame for its failed high immigration levels onto the backs of employers and of Canadians in general and pressuring the RCMP and thousands of other employers to pursue “equity employment for visible minorities' ” policies flies in the face of both reason and justice.
(10) The implementation of “equity employment for visible minorities' ” policies by the RCMP and a host of other Canadian employers divides Canadians. Implementation has bred much resentment and is reviving racism in a new and insidious form. It has created blatant inequity and it has wasted resources. It has served neither the interests of Canadians in general nor those who happen to be visible minorities.
END OF PRESS RELEASE
Dear Editor/Reporter/ Columnist:
For your information, we provide you with 2 items:
(1) The letter from a B.C. woman whose well-qualified son was denied admission to the RCMP.
(2) The National Post editorial
In Canada's Interests,
Dan Murray
Immigration Watch Canada
(1) Letter to the editor:
The wrong way to tackle discrimination
National Post
Wednesday, June 29, 2005
Re: Why The Mounties Can't Get Their Men, June 27.
For years, our son applied to join the RCMP. He always scored high on his aptitude tests, yet was turned down time and time again because he is a single Caucasian male. He was told this to his face.
Affirmative action, all too often, leaves disappointment in its wake, not unlike the disappointment that it was supposed to redress. Reverse racism and sexism, and the compromising of a once-incomparable law enforcement agency, will prove to be the RCMP's undoing.
Judy Fowler, Surrey, B.C.
(2) Editorial:
Why the Mounties can't get their men
National Post
Monday, June 27, 2005
The RCMP complained this week that it had too few qualified recruits last year to replace the number of officers who retired. Applications were off by 28% and only 232 new officers joined, rather than the 300 hoped for.
The force attributes the dearth of prospective recruits to competition: There are too many other attractive career choices for young men and women. Its solution? Buy a brightly coloured van and cruise Ontario and Quebec campuses looking for warm bodies; maybe conduct some focus groups to see why young people aren't attracted to RCMP careers.
We can save them the trouble (and taxpayers the expense).
If too few well-qualified applicants are seeking admission to the RCMP's academy in Regina, it is likely because the Mounties have done all they could in the last decade to scare off young white males. While brass deny it, for a time in the mid-1990s the RCMP had a “no white males” policy. Some recruiters admitted to applicants that the force had a five-year backlog of Caucasian men and wouldn't consider any more until it had reached its gender and racial hiring goals. Just to get an interview, white males needed a score of 115 on the police aptitude test, women needed a 96 and visible minority candidates an 86.
Such quotas are said to permeate promotions, too. For instance, although the RCMP has a comparatively small number of officers in Quebec, bilingualism is a key to selection for command, which has left many serving male, anglophone members embittered — understandably so.
In 1999, too, the RCMP eliminated recruits' pay while they are training in Regina. Now, during the 24-week academy, recruits typically have to come up with $4,600 of their own for expenses. Room and board is provided, but nothing else. (And even that is treated as a taxable benefit by the Canada Revenue Agency.)
In addition, there is the obvious politicization of the Mounted Police. It is no longer perceived by many as an independent force. Rather, it is now seen as a branch of the Solicitor-General's office like any other. The commissioner has the standing of an associate deputy minister. This has enabled Cabinet to ally the RCMP too closely to unpopular programs such as the firearms registry. Enforcement of Ottawa's gun controls has made the force less popular in places where it was once revered, such as Atlantic Canada and the rural West.
The Mounties also received $3-million in Adscam money, and is widely seen as ineffectual at investigating corruption scandals. The perception is growing that the once proud police organization — often called the best in the world — is in the process of becoming a tool of politicians and social engineers.
If RCMP recruiters want more young officers, they might first look to a gender- and colour-blind application process. The force still receives nearly 9,000 applications a year. Surely there are an additional 68 good prospects in that pool — even if they are all white males.
The Mounties' lustre can also be restored by ensuring the service is fully independent of political interference. The commissioner should become an officer of Parliament rather than a bureaucratic appointee. His or her selection should be made by an all-party committee, rather than by Cabinet.
Before senior Mounties authorize their recruiters to commence their psychedelic bus tour of Central Canada in the search for new trainees, they might want to consider addressing the real causes for the recruitment drop.
National Post 2005
