Mountie group claims lack of access to C-8 rifles remains an issue

VANCOUVER (NEWS 1130) – More than 10 years after four RCMP officers were gunned down in Mayerthorpe, Alberta — a group representing Mounties claims some front-line officers still don’t have the high-powered rifles they’re supposed to.

The approval of Colt C-8 patrol carbines came six years after those four officers were killed.

But, Rob Creasser with the Mounted Police Professional Association of Canada says his organization gets complaints weekly about officers still not having access to the rifles.

“We deal with long-barreled weapon threats if not on a daily basis, certainly on a weekly basis, across the nation,” says Creasser.

He adds the deaths of three Mounties in Moncton a year-and-a-half ago show why these rifles are necessary.

“Where in the case of one officer, he saw Mr. Bourque and knew that the weapon that he carried — a 9-millimetre handgun — didn’t have the range to be able to effectively deal with Mr. Bourque and so he drove closer to him, and that enabled Mr. Bourque to subsequently fire and kill him.”

Creasser was asked why the roll-out has taken so long.

“I think in another journalistic effort done by another agency, there was a delay because the RCMP was concerned about what was taking place at the Vancouver International Airport and various use of force protocols, and so they actually delayed the C8 patrol carbine problem because they were more focused on use of a taser. And another reason was that RCMP budgets along with every other federal government agency were being cut at the time by the then Conservative government, and it’s really hard to buy weapons and equipment that cost a lot of money to be fair, when your budgets are being cut, and we’ve seen the tragic results of the combination of those two things.”

We have been in touch with RCMP for a response, but have not heard back.