(The following article is from the July 1-31,  2010 issue of People's Voice, Canada's leading communist newspaper. Articles can be reprinted free if the source is credited. Subscription rates in Canada: $30/year, or $15 low income rate; for U.S. readers - $45 US per year; other overseas readers - $45 US or $50 CDN per year. Send to: People's Voice, c/o PV Business Manager, 706 Clark Drive, Vancouver, BC, V5L 3J1.)

People's Voice Editorial

The harsh criticisms of the RCMP by Justice Thomas Braidwood in the taser killing of Robert Dziekanski are welcome to all those who oppose police brutality and abuse of power.

     But this case goes far deeper than the "shameful conduct of a few officers." The RCMP was formed to impose the domination of the emerging Canadian state on the Aboriginal peoples. In fact, the original North West Mounted Police was modelled on the Royal Irish Constabulary, which played a similar role during the centuries-long British occupation of Ireland.

     Over the past 137 years, the RCMP has been known for three key features, starting with its racist approach. Despite the mythology that the Mounties "saved the Indians" from U.S. whiskey traders, the RCMP has always enforced the ironclad rule of the Canadian state that Aboriginal peoples must be denied their inherent rights, a role which requires denial of their status as equals within Canada. Second, the RCMP has been a military instrument to protect scabs and break strikes, from the Winnipeg General Strike to the Regina Riot and hundreds of other labour disputes. Third, for over a century the RCMP has been a tool to attack the democratic and revolutionary forces in Canada (especially the Communist Party) through infiltration, spying, provocations, forgeries, theft, barn-burnings, and many other illegal actions.

     In short, the role of the RCMP has always been to impose the will of the ruling class against Aboriginal peoples, workers, radicals, and all those who could challenge the established capitalist order. The fact that RCMP officers often engage in violent acts against innocent people is not because a few stray from the rule book; it is because they enjoy virtually complete impunity for their actions. The solution is not "reform". The RCMP must be dissolved and replaced by a police organization which is under full civilian control and oversight.