-,On the evening of Jan. 23,
members of the RCMP National
Recruiting Team held a meeting
in Terrace for the general public.
For the Royal Canadian Mount-
ed Police, the reality of multi-
culturalism has caused recruiting
concerns.

Those concerns have promp-_
ted an initiative to take on the
new: ~lienges of ensuring that
adeq : numbers of visible
min. .° Canadians and ab-
original people are in RCMP
ranks as regular officers. In ad-
dition, the Force wishes to in-
crease the percentage of women
e francophone bilingual

oers. As Canadians become

er educated, the Force is also

king more university gradu-
ats,

Between 50 to 60 people at-
tended the meeting at the Ter-
race Public Library. Recruiting
officers Barb Fleury and Andy
Lum were encouraged by the
number of women and
aboriginal people present, and
also by the number of visible
minority members, particularly
Indo-Canadians who came to
find out more about the
recruiting procedures and career
opportunities in the RCMP.
They also did presentations at
Thornhill Junior Secondary,
Skeena Junior Secondary and
Lakelse High schools.

“There are at present 16,000
regular and special members of
the RCMP across Canada. Since
‘1987, the RCMP recruiting
targets have been reformulated
to better reflect the Canadian
mosaic. According to 1986 cen-
sus data, visible minorities make
up 6.3 percent of Canadian
society. By the turn of the cen-
tury, this figure will increase to
approximately 9.0 to 9.6 per-
cent. Until the RCMP recruiting
targets were reformulated, 99.6

- percent of RCMP constables
were Caucasian.

By the year 2003, the RCMP
hope to have 6.3 percent of its
Force made up of visible
minorities; by 2008 to have 20
‘percent of its Force women, and
2.1 percent natives, and by the
‘year 1996, 20.8 percent of its
force Francophones.

As of December 1989, women

made up 7.7 percent of the

RCMP regular force.
' In B.C., there are presently
307 female RCMP officers out

of a total force of 3,290. B.C..

already has the highest percen-
tage of women officers of any
province in Canada. There are
18 Metis regular officers, eight
native regular officers, and 20
visible minority regular officers.

Despite the RCMP’s open
door policy, the perception by
minorities has been that they
didn’t fit the profile for police
officers. The ad campaigns and
posters perpetuated that myth.
There was also a cultural bias
against the. police by minority
groups and a “‘chill factor’.
. Because the organization had
been so predominantly Cauca-
: sian, prospective recruits found -

iters see

Constable Andy Lum, Terrace community relations officer
Ken Harkness and Constable Barb Fleury review their re-
cent recruitment and informational meeting held In Ter-

over 50 people.

race. Constables Lum and Fleury, from the RCMP National
Recruiting Team, were Pleased by the large turn-out of

it very intimidating.

New recruiting posters,
brochures and attitudes reflect
the changing guidelines within
the RCMP and other police
forces across the country. There
are quarterly meetings held with
all. lower mainland recruiting
departments in the different
police forces to encourage
changing attitudes and increase
the recruitment of minorities.

Since 1979, cross-cultural
courses have been offered to all
RCMP members in the field, as
well as at their initial recruit-
ment training in Regina.
Members of the National Re-
cruiting Team do informal visits
and have coffee with members in
the different communities when
they are out on their recruitment
campaigns. Constable Fleury ex-
plains that you have to earn
respect in any Occupation: ‘‘We
help our members to overcome
personal prejudices by acting as
role models. We also help them
over more far-reaching attitude
hurdles. As a result of the NRT
visiting the area, they hope that
they’ve encouraged positive
changes in attitude in the com-
munity to recruiting. The suc-
cess of this program depends
partly on the positive attitudes
of the officers who come into
contact with the public.”’

Commissioner of the RCMP
N.D. Inkster implemented the
change in the Force’s recruiting
focus in 1987. One of these
commitment results was the
establishment of the National
Recruiting Team (NRT). Selec-
tion of the team was based on,
and complemented,categories of
individuals the-Force wished to
attract. t

continued on page B7

“ot

——a

The stories of two people
who chose a police career

Barb Fleury decided at age
15 to become an RCMP of-
ficer. Publicity surrounding
the admittance of the first
women entering the regular
Forces must have subcon-
sciously influenced her, she
thinks.

She had never before seen
an RCMP officer. And she
had certainly never spoken to
one. She grew up in Quebec

where they have provincial

police in towns and cities.
Fleury decided that there was
greater flexibility in the
RCMP because they were a
national police force.

She received her Bachelor
of Arts degree before she
joined the Force in 1981. She
obtained her Masters in June
1989 through Simon Fraser
University. Fleury started her
service with the RCMP in
general duties in Surrey. for
six years. She worked in
downtown Vancouver for
two years in the drug section.
- When a replacement was
needed for one of the women
on the National Recruiting
Team, Staff and Personnel in
the province of B.C. called
her. The request had
originated out of Ottawa.
Because Fleury was a woman
who was bilingual, had the
required amount of service in

both general and specialized

sections, and was mobile, she
was chosen. After an in-

depth interview, she took a
two-year posting with the
National Recruiting Team
based in Ottawa.

Andy Lum was born and
raised in Vancouver. He is a
first-generation Canadian,
with a family originally from
China. They came to Canada
via Hong Kong.

During his university years
to train for teaching, Lum

had a‘ friend in the Van- -
couver City Police. During

his last year at UBC in 1981,

he joined the Vancouver
Police Reserves for a year.;,
He had always thought he
was too short to be a police.
‘officer, but joined as soon as. .

he found he was eligible.

His family was all in favor .

of the move. This surprised

him because traditionally ©

police in China are not well-

‘respected. He feels that

perhaps it was their gradual
introduction to the idea
through his work with the.
Police Reserves that made. .
the difference. -

Lum’s first posting was to
Oshawa, Ont. in Customs
and Excise. He eventually

transferred back to Burnaby,. -

and in March 1988 became
one of the first members of
the National Recruiting
Team. He worked out of the
Division E (British Colum-

bia): recruiting office until

August 1989, when he and
his family (wife and two
daughters) moved to Ottawa.

Lum had lots of experience
dealing with minority
groups. Asa visible minority
himself, he has a personal
commitment to see that the
RCMP mirrors the com-
munities of Canada, or, he

‘feels, they won’t be able to
- work as effectively, Through
' his work with the National

Recruiting Team, he has
become more aware and ap-
preciative of the need to have
minority. groups encouraged
to join the RCMP.
Constables Fleury and
Lum, and the four other
members of their team, have
Ineetings to brainstorm,
‘structure their programs,

meet with: minority leaders -

who make recommenda-

tions, and they do career in-

formation sessions for: pro-
spective recruits. Each con-
stable is in charge of a dif-
ferent division of the coun-

try, but they call on other .

members for back-up or as-

sistance, depending on the -

needs in that division. And
they work in‘concert with the
detachments within each
division. -

Lum ifs just coming to the

end of his second year on.the - |

National Recruiting Team,

but he expects to stay with it -

for another two years.

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