Coronavirus disease (COVID-19) update as of March 16, 2020

Commissioner's broadcast sent March 16, 2020

Over the coming weeks, it will feel like there is a flood of communication coming from your divisions, your managers, national headquarters and myself, on top of whatever you choose to follow in the news and on social media.

Because of our unique responsibilities, our direction may be slightly different from that of other government departments and agencies. Our role as Canada's national police force, with different categories of employees, requires that we consider the information and direction and apply it in the context of our specific needs.

The government's response plan aims to ensure that we don't overwhelm our medical services. The essence of the plan is to "flatten the curve" – that is, spread out the number of people falling sick over a longer period of time, so that our medical services are better able to keep up.

We are first and foremost a police service, and the primacy of operations is fundamental. As first responders, we have a responsibility to continue protecting the communities we serve.

Your safety

We will do our duty to uphold public safety while maintaining the health and safety of colleagues, family and friends.

It is essential that we abide by instructions from local and federal health authorities. This includes self-isolating when you are ill or when you return from international travel. The guidelines issued by public health authorities apply to all Canadians. The direction of the RCMP is that all employees returning from international travel will self isolate.

We are working to ensure sufficient supplies of personal protective equipment, such as N95 masks, nitrile gloves and sanitizer. Allocations are being centrally managed and pushed out to the divisions. Divisional Procurement Officers are ready to assist if divisions need to procure essential supplies and equipment via other means.

Operations

Effective immediately, we are proceeding to a layered Human Resources (HR) Business Continuity Plan (BCP) approach. Managers will work with their employees to identify a plan that is as flexible as possible while ensuring continued critical government operations and services to Canadians.

We are setting service priorities based on the resources available. We are reviewing what tasks and units are most important to operations. Further information will follow from commanding officers and managers.

Telework

We are moving toward reducing our on-site personnel to required staff working in headquarters and detachments, and encouraging telework wherever possible. Having fewer employees physically at work helps to lower the risk to you, your families and the communities we serve.

• Managers at all levels will lower the number of staff who physically need to be at work to accomplish priority tasks
• Managers will also decide how and whether to rotate staff who are working from home, based on what is best for their individual teams/units

To keep Canadians safe, we need to stay healthy and focused on our mandate. I know I can count on you. Please monitor your mailboxes and Infoweb on a daily basis, and keep your manager informed of any changes that may affect your ability to work.

Brenda Lucki
Commissioner

Date modified:

2020-03-24