Hon. Renée Dupuis: Senator Harder, in your speech, you spoke about the future of the institution, and I agree with you that it is an important issue. I want to come back to those elements you spoke about, that is, a toxic climate, a toxic culture and sexual harassment in the institution. Saying that we want to look to the future often implies forgetting about the past. My question is the following: When considering the future of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, should we clearly state the need to remedy the effects of discrimination against women at this institution and take this into account?

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Senator Harder: I thank the honourable senator for her question. I totally share the implied position of the senator with respect to the issues raised by Justice Bastarache and others. My point is that we don’t need an inquiry that goes into those issues. We need an inquiry that talks about the future organization and mandate of the organization, and to ensure that its training and its management focus is designed to achieve the objectives of what a modern policing organization that serves the country and the federal policing mandate ought to be.

There will be problems in this because it will have to be a transition of provincial policing and municipal policing where it is in effect, and we’ll have to think through what it means for the Indigenous and Aboriginal policing in this country. But I do think we have the capacity in this chamber to address those issues and make recommendations.