It’s as Canadian as a picture gets, with mounted policemen in full red serge uniform galloping their horses through the intricate pace of the famous musical ride.
But the RCMP’s iconic musical ride, which has entertained summer audiences across the country for more than a century, is plagued by low morale and staffing shortages, putting the future of the program in jeopardy, an internal audit conducted by the RCMP has found.
“The limited number of new riders is a significant threat to its sustainability,” said the audit report, posted online recently, a copy of which was made public for the first time through a Freedom of Information request. Dean Beebe, an independent journalist.
“The mental and physical health of Musical Ride’s members has deteriorated in recent years, leading to low morale,” the report said. “The evidence suggests this is a widespread problem that requires management’s attention.”
The history of the musical ride dates back to the RCMP’s beginnings as the North-West Mounted Police in the 1870s.
According to the RCMP’s official online history, some of the first Mounties broke the monotony of their riding training by competing with other Mounties or performing tricks on horseback.
These impromptu performances were later performed for crowds and over time evolved into the modern Musical Rides. The RCMP’s Musical Ride Unit travels both nationally and internationally providing mounted training exercises set to music.
“The Musical Ride is considered an iconic image of Canada and is the RCMP’s largest public relations tool,” the audit report states. “While the RCMP is often portrayed in a negative light, the Musical Ride is inherently positive.”
But the RCMP say staffing shortages that undermine front-line policing also extend to musical rides.
The audit report, conducted late last year and only posted online last week, said busy RCMP division chiefs were not relieving officers interested in taking part in the musical ride from their policing duties.
Without a steady and ongoing supply of riders, mounted police officers already attached to mounted units would not be able to rotate to their next posting.
Superintendent Kevin Fahey, head of Musical Rides and Heritage, said the audit findings were worrying but not surprising.
“Knowing that ‘there’s no replacement coming’ can be very worrying and it can cause a lot of stress and be very difficult for families,” he said.
“People were ready to move forward.”
The audit report also found that longer ride times on musical rides were having physical effects on passengers.
“Musical rides are physically demanding work and cause a higher than average number of passengers to be injured. The longer the stay, the greater the likelihood of injury,” the report said.
Audit Raises Safety Concerns
Fahey said that’s especially true for mounted officers, who are “not natural-born mounted officers.”
“More than 90 percent of our residents have never ridden a horse before, so the training period is very intense,” he says. “Horses are very unpredictable, so injuries can happen at any time.”
The report also noted that confinement had some troubling effects on the horses when performances were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The confined horses exhibited undesirable behaviours and required significant time spent exercising to maintain their physical and mental health,” the report said.
“Every year, new horses take part in Musical Rides as a way to train and prepare them to take part in performances. However, during the pandemic, new horses have not been given this experience, raising concerns about safety, training and preparation.”
The unit has not been able to fully staff its positions and has not had all 32 riders available since 2018.
Fahey said the ride is currently at an all-time low, with just 16 riders attached to the unit.
Auditors said canceling the musical ride would have only a “limited impact” on the RCMP’s officer shortage and warned against cancelling it.
“It also creates a vacuum in positive public relations, which could have long-term negative consequences for the Royal Canadian Mounted Police,” the report said.
“All Sergeants noted that Musical Rides are worth the investment. Many noted that reallocating Musical Rides personnel and budgets to other areas would be a ‘not much effect’ or a ‘Band-Aid solution’ that would have little impact on current resource issues.”
RCMP faces staffing shortages across the country
Michael Boudreau, a professor of criminology and criminal justice at St. Thomas University in Fredericton, New Brunswick, said the audit’s findings point to a larger staffing problem facing the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
“In some cases, policing is dysfunctional. If our members are not prepared to be part of one of the most iconic symbols of policing, then why should we support it,” he said. “What role does the RCMP play anymore?”
“Even if you’re teaching criminology anecdotally, 10 years ago you would ask first-year students, ‘How many of you came here because you wanted to be an RCMP officer?’ Half the class would raise their hands. Now, if you ask the same question, only a few people will raise their hands.”
RCMP vacancies are reaching 20 per cent in some parts of Canada, with police officials warning that a hiring crisis could leave them unable to adequately serve large parts of the country.
“It makes it very difficult to conduct day-to-day policing,” Boudreau said.
“It also erodes public trust in the police… I think erosion of public trust indirectly leads to reasons why people don’t want to join the police… so it’s a vicious cycle.”
Royal Canadian Mounted Police Commissioner Mike Duhem has made ramping up recruitment one of his top priorities, and in a recent interview suggested the number of police applicants is gradually increasing.
Still, the Mounted Police’s External Management Advisory Committee said it remained concerned about vacancy rates across the country.
“The increasing number of cadets who will soon be entering the training centres will not fill all the Regular Member (RM) vacancies and this situation will continue for the next few years.” The board wrote in a letter to Duhem last month.
“In this regard, we will encourage bold and creative thinking around recruitment and training both within and outside the depot to fill RM vacancies in the short term.”
Proposal to add private riders rejected
RCMP auditors interviewed more than 30 people, surveyed 88 current and former Musical Ride members, sorted through 144 internal documents, reviewed RCMP administrative and financial data, spoke to 109 communities that hosted performances and observed five Musical Ride performances.
Several people interviewed suggested hiring civilians to fill seats on musical rides, but the audit’s authors rejected the idea.
“If the passengers were not police officers, the legitimacy and effectiveness of the Musical Ride could be adversely affected,” they wrote.
“The mix of regular and civilian personnel can lead to challenges (e.g., differences in uniforms, pay structures, collective bargaining agreements, etc.).”
He proposed bringing in civilians to do the non-ride jobs necessary to keep the Musical Ride going.
“Increasing the number of civilian staff members could potentially allow full-time staff to provide greater support to other parts of the RCMP when needed,” the audit report states.
The RCMP said it has already addressed the deficiencies uncovered in the audit and is developing policies to encourage short-term release of RCMP officers to take part in musical rides.
He also promised to set up a morale and health committee to properly address members’ concerns.
Fahey said a “healthy rotation” rate will boost rider morale and thinks the thriving musical rides are a good thing for the organization overall.
“Canadians’ support for the RCMP is vital,” he said.