The RCMP has a lot of paperwork, but Burnaby council doesn’t want to expand city detachment’s records room, claiming it’s a federal responsibility.
At its July 7 meeting, council tabled a report requesting $314,000 to upgrade the file storage at the Burnaby RCMP building. While part of that cost is to replace existing equipment, the cost also includes increased storage for older files that would otherwise be stored in Ottawa.
“This appears to be another area in which we are receiving a downloading from the federal government,” said Mayor Derek Corrigan, noting the Library and Archives Canada in Ontario keeps RCMP files from detachments across the country.
“As happens often, there’s now, arbitrarily, a decision by the federal government that they’re not going to do this anymore after June 2015. To say the least, I’m not happy.”
Corrigan noted that, in addition to the cost of expansion, there would likely be overtime costs for city staff and RCMP officers to move the files.
Coun. Dan Johnston, however, noted that Burnaby RCMP Chief Superintendent Dave Critchley was excited that the records would be more accessible for local attachments.
But Corrigan replied with a laugh, “I’ve found that often, what excites the RCMP doesn’t excite me.”
Coun. Nick Volkow chimed in, criticizing the feds for passing down the cost to municipalities.
“If these items and these old evidence files are that important in the pursuit of justice in this country, you would think the federal government would be the last people to say, ‘We’re not looking after them anymore,’” he said.
Before tabling the report, Corrigan suggested that files be stored at the RCMP’s 500,000-square-foot E Division headquarters in Surrey.
“It continues to be a source of frustration, that these unilateral decisions come down the line and the RCMP says, ‘Well, we’re happy to have these boxes closest to us,’ but we’re looking at a $314,000 bill,” he said.
