RCMP unit that helps flag threats to PM faces 'numerous challenges': internal report

Then-Liberal Leader Justin Trudeau is escorted by his RCMP security detail as protesters shout and throw rocks while leaving a campaign stop at a local microbrewery during the Canadian federal election campaign in London Ont., on Monday, September 6, 2021. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Nathan Denette

OTTAWA — Members of an RCMP unit that helps to protect the prime minister and other public figures face a risk of burnout due to a heavy workload and limited resources, says a newly released internal evaluation report.

The Protective Behavioural Analysis Unit “has faced numerous challenges” since its inception in 2020 and program implementation remains “incomplete and inefficient,” says the report compiled by RCMP reviewers.

The unit is “not sustainable” in its current form and the RCMP must address issues related to mandate, structure and workload “in both the immediate and longer term” to help the unit survive and thrive, the report concludes.

The unit provides operational support to the RCMP’s protective services and uses behavioural science methods to assess risk in order to prevent violence.

The report, completed in December and quietly posted online this month, lands just as candidates across the country prepare for several weeks of public events in a federal election campaign expected to begin on Sunday.

Politicians of all stripes have been facing threats to their safety.

MPs have been followed on the street and have received death threats. Such threats target high-profile people and their families online, in person at public venues and at home, the report says.

“Over the last few years, the number and complexity of threats and violence targeting protected persons in Canada has continually increased,” it says.

RCMP estimates cited in the report say the number of threats against public officials increased from approximately 1,300 in 2022 to 2,600 in 2023 — and was projected to exceed 3,500 in 2024.

That escalation has prompted efforts to bolster protection and security measures.

“With increasing threats and acts of aggression towards VIPs and protected persons within Canada and globally, it is critical for organizations responsible for the safety of these individuals to be able to systematically identify, assess and monitor these risks,” the report says.

The Protective Behavioural Analysis Unit uses certified threat specialists, a science-based methodology, risk mitigation and management strategies to help protect people.

Many of the people interviewed for the report said the unit’s services have met the evolving threat assessment needs of protective policing.

But the reviewers also concluded that after three-and-a-half years, implementation of the unit was only half-complete.

The report points to gaps in implementation, including a lack of analyst support for threat specialists, unfinished standard operating procedures, a lack of clarity on roles and responsibilities and training that takes longer than the projected two years.

The volume of tasks assigned to the unit and the lack of an efficient triage process has led to backlogs and heavy workloads, the report says.

Those difficulties have frustrated the unit’s efforts to fulfil its core mandate of conducting threat assessments, posing a risk that threats might go undetected or be assessed or monitored improperly, the report says.

The reviewers found that workload demands, along with training requirements, exceeded the capacity of the unit, threatening staff well-being and work-life balance.

“The success of the unit to date has been largely due to its knowledgeable and dedicated staff, but these employees are at risk of burnout,” the report says.

Senior managers told the reviewers that their current priorities were to boost unit resources and implement effective task triaging to address the workload problem.

An accompanying management response to the report outlines several measures the RCMP plans to take, with implementation dates ranging from as early as this month to March 2027.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published March 22, 2025.

Jim Bronskill, The Canadian Press