RCMP Heritage Centre pushed for more outreach as part of expansion program

Located on the grounds of the RCMP Academy's Depot Division in Regina, the centre serves as a museum on the history of the national police force.

The head of the RCMP Heritage Centre in Saskatchewan says that after it completed a round of consultations on how it can transform into a national museum, the ball is now in Ottawa’s court.

“We really needed to hear from Canadians,” said Tara Robinson, the CEO of the Regina-based museum focused on the history of the Mounties.

“There’s never been a more complex time for policing in our country,” she said Friday.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised during the 2019 election campaign that the Liberals would expand the RCMP Heritage Centre, which is currently operated by a charitable organization, into a national institution.

Involving a wide swath of Canadians, including from LGBTQ and Indigenous communities, in discussions about those efforts to grow was a key condition set by the federal Heritage Department, which oversees national museums such as the National Gallery of Canada.

Documents The Canadian Press obtained through access-to-information legislation suggest there was some initial resistance to the scope of those consultations, although Robinson stressed that came “really early on in the process.”

The back-and-forth about what it would take to create a national RCMP museum is contained in roughly 600 pages of emails and other documents from 2020 and 2021.

Located on the grounds of the RCMP Academy’s Depot Division in Regina, where Mounties receive their training, the centre serves as a museum on the history of the national police force, which began as the North-West Mounted Police in 1873.