TRURO, N.S. — TRURO, N.S. – An RCMP report favouring the relocation of its Operational Communications Centre (OCC) from Truro to Dartmouth is biased and based on false information, local elected leaders say.
“Come hell or high water, we’re going forward,” Truro Mayor Bill Mills said, of the perceived attitude expessed by the RCMP in its handling of the issue. “They are going to do what they are going to do.”
His comments came during a Wednesday morning news conference in Truro held in conjunction with Colchester County Mayor Christine Blair, Stewiacke Mayor Wendy Robinson and Millbrook First Nation Chief Bob Gloade.
The four officials jointly signed a news release calling on the “suspension of any process” to relocate the OCC until an independent review requested by Public Safety Minister Ralph Goodale has been completed. Although the RCMP says it has committed to having an independent study conducted regarding the relocation decision, a spokesperson told the Truro News that work is continuing on the relocation efforts. https://www.trurodaily.com/news/mounties-stacking-deck-against-maintaining-truro-occ-mp-casey-316941/
“The report contains serious errors and incorrect information and presents a very bias approach in favour of the relocation of the communication center to the RCMP headquarters in Dartmouth,” the release states. “Several options are considered and the errors, incorrect and bias information creates a serious disadvantage for the current Truro location and the Millbrook First Nations location.
The release says the RCMP report “minimizes” the security risks of not providing geographic separation between the two communication centres. Conversely, a 2004 report recommended an appropriate distance of 100-km between the two communications centres to reduce the risk to public safety in the event of a catastrophic event.
“The security risks along with the relocation of 60 staff from Truro to Dartmouth, the impact this will have on the employees, their families, the community at large and staff morale were not considered as part of the evaluation criteria,” the joint release says.
Figures provided by Cumberland-Colchester MP Bill Casey, from an RCMP report he received through an Access to Information request were “manipulated” he said to show higher operation costs for all options except relocating the OCC to Dartmouth.
“It would certainly seem suspect to me, as Mr. Casey said, that the deck was stacked,” Mills said.
One of the options, if the existing Truro site was deemed no longer suitable, was that Millbrook First Nation would provide a modern facility that could be leased to the RCMP.
But Gloade said the lack of communication regarding the offer was “concerning” and the consensus from he and the other leaders on Wednesday was that the RCMP had been “less than honest or honourable” with its figures and other information contained in the report.
