Feds foot the bill to move Ykers
RCMP, military and public service workers relocated to North can claim expenses
Daniel Campbell
Northern News Services
Published Friday, March 7, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A federal program paying for moving costs is beneficial to members of the RCMP, military and public service workers who are relocated to the North, according to government officials.
The integrated relocation program has been under scrutiny down south, after a retired general claimed more than $72,000 to move from one part of Ottawa to another. The costs of a military member's final move after retirement, however, is distinguished from the more common relocation moves that are part of many RCMP and military members' careers.
On Feb. 26, Yellowknifer reported the moving expenses members of the general staff of the military posted to Yellowknife had claimed since 2010. The total cost - $123,400 - combines expenses such as real estate fees and transportation costs.
The figures were obtained from an access to information request specifically targeting members of the general staff, published by Global News.
But the program is the same for all members of the military, RCMP and public service who are transferred as part of their duties, officials say.
"This benefit applies to all members, from the rank of private to general, and wherever they are posted across Canada," Lindsay Tessier, communications officer for the Department of National Defence, wrote in an e-mail.
"Whether this posting is up North to Yellowknife, or out west to CFB Esquimalt, or out east to CFB Halifax," Tessier added.
Cpl. Laurence Trottier, a media relations officer with the RCMP, said the program helps make the RCMP a viable career choice for Canadians.
"RCMP members are expected to be mobile anywhere in Canada and the employer has the final say," Trottier wrote in an e-mail.
"Relocation is part of the entire hiring package in order to recruit, retain and encourage mobility," she added.
There are around 200 RCMP members in the Northwest Territories, including dozens located in the capital, according to Statistics Canada. Joint Task Force (North), which is headquartered in Yellowknife, is comprised of a number of military units, support units and detachments.
Brookfield Global Relocation Services - the third-party company which oversees the administration of the moves for those members - pays the costs of the moves and bills the government in a zero balance account, according to an Auditor General of Canada report from 2006.
Brookfield does not have an office in Yellowknife, meaning those using the program here must do so remotely.
