NOTE: This story also ran in: The Calgary Herald,

PUBLICATION:        The Ottawa Citizen

DATE:                         2003.12.03

EDITION:                    Final

SECTION:                  News

PAGE:                         A5

BYLINE:                     Tim Naumetz

SOURCE:                   The Ottawa Citizen

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Funding cuts let poachers off the hook: RCMP's forensic labs lose $500,000 used to help enforce wildlife laws

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The RCMP cut nearly $500,000 this fall from its overworked forensic laboratory services to help the force meet budget reductions ordered by Finance Minister John Manley, confidential documents show. Mountie commanders imposed the cuts only a year after RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli came under fire for spending $180,000 on office redecorating and $1,064 for a pair of custom-made riding boots.

When the force chopped $446,000 in forensic lab services, it brought an end to firearms forensic work the RCMP had previously done for wildlife law enforcement agencies prosecuting poachers, according to the documents obtained by Canadian Alliance MP Garry Breitkreuz.

The National Post reported earlier that RCMP cuts and staffing shortages also reduced other areas of criminal investigations involving forensic labs.

The cuts were part of $15 million in spending reductions the RCMP had to impose as a result of Mr. Manley's budget earlier in the year. "For the sake of $446,000, or 0.3 per cent of this year's gun registry budget of $128 million, the Liberals decided to let hundreds of Wildlife Act offenders get off scot-free," said Mr. Breitkreuz.

The documents appear to contradict claims by the RCMP and Solicitor General Wayne Easter that the RCMP ended firearms forensic work for the wildlife agencies because of increasing demand on the RCMP firearms forensic services for criminal cases.

An internal RCMP memo dated Sept. 18 and approved by Joe Buckle, assistant commissioner in charge of the forensic laboratory services, said program managers were asked to review their services to develop "strategic priorities" in response to the need to cut spending. "The strategy chosen for the firearms program was to eliminate non-criminal casework related to wildlife investigations," the memo said.

The documents obtained by Mr. Breitkreuz show the RCMP forensics lab services handled 193 wildlife cases in 2001 and 2002, and 29 wildlife cases in the first six months of 2003.

In a Nov. 25 letter to a hunting group, Mr. Easter attributed the elimination of the forensic work for poaching to the growing workload on criminal cases, not budget-trimming.

"I am advised that, while the RCMP recognizes the importance of wildlife cases, increased demands and current workloads are such that the services of the forensic laboratories have been reviewed to ensure that priorities are aligned to the core mandate," Mr. Easter wrote to Tony Rodgers, executive director of the Nova Scotia Federation of Anglers and Hunters.