Report Finds RCMP Guns Seizures during Alberta Floods Unlawful

This article was last updated on April 16, 2022

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An independent report into the RCMP’s alleged illegal activities during Alberta floods of 2013 have concluded that some officers acted against the law by conducting warrantless searches and seizures of firearms that angered many residents of High River, just south of Calgary.

Commission chair, Ian McPhail, issued the report explaining that in in several instances, RCMP members legally entered homes to look for flood survivors but “once inside the homes, RCMP members discovered firearms and contraband and, with insufficient supervision and guidance by senior RCMP members or any judicial oversight, performed warrantless searches and seizures of firearms from some of the evacuated homes.” According to the Mounties, they don’t need warrants to seize firearms and that they only seized guns that were unsecured or improperly stored and in plain view.

However, MacPhail’s report points out that “in a number of instances, RCMP members seized firearms that were properly secured or that were not in plain view. In these cases the firearms were not removed with lawful authority.” According to the report, the Mounties should be lauded for their good work in finding people stranded by the flood, rescuing pets or retrieving other items but the report points out that these good works do not absolve the RCMP from going beyond what is legally allowed. It stressed that “in several cases the searches exceeded their authorized scope by expanding from a search for people or pets to a search for firearms or contraband.”

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