Robert Wilfred Paulson, (born 1958) is a former Commissioner of the

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; french: Gendarmerie royale du Canada; french: GRC, label=none), commonly known in English as the Mounties (and colloquially in French as ) is the federal police, federal and national police service of ...

. He retired from the RCMP at the end of June 2017.

Life and career

Paulson was born in

Lachute Lachute () is a town in southwest Quebec, Canada, northwest of Montreal, on the Rivière du Nord, a tributary of the Ottawa River, and west of Mirabel International Airport. It is located on Autoroute 50, at the junctions of Quebec Provincial ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

in 1958. His father was an Icelandic Canadian from

Winnipeg Winnipeg () is the capital and largest city of the province of Manitoba in Canada. It is centred on the confluence of the Red and Assiniboine rivers, near the longitudinal centre of North America. , Winnipeg had a city population of 749, ...

whereas his mother was French Canadian. Growing up, he was a member of Cadets Canada. Paulson's older brother was a Commissioned Officer in the

Royal Canadian Navy The Royal Canadian Navy (RCN; french: Marine royale canadienne, ''MRC'') is the naval force of Canada. The RCN is one of three environmental commands within the Canadian Armed Forces. As of 2021, the RCN operates 12 frigates, four attack submar ...

RCAF career (1975-1984)

Paulson joined the

Royal Canadian Air Force The Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF; french: Aviation royale canadienne, ARC) is the air and space force of Canada. Its role is to "provide the Canadian Forces with relevant, responsive and effective airpower". The RCAF is one of three environm ...

as a

Pilot An aircraft pilot or aviator is a person who controls the flight of an aircraft by operating its directional flight controls. Some other aircrew members, such as navigators or flight engineers, are also considered aviators, because they a ...

after high school, serving from 1977 - 1984. He worked as a flight instructor and aviation administrator at

CFB Moose Jaw Canadian Forces Base Moose Jaw , also known as 15 Wing Moose Jaw, is a Canadian Forces base located south of Moose Jaw, Saskatchewan. It is operated as an air force base by the Royal Canadian Air Force (RCAF) and is home to RCAF Pilot trainin ...

and

CFB North Bay Canadian Forces Base North Bay, also CFB North Bay, is an air force base located at the City of North Bay, Ontario about north of Toronto. The base is subordinate to 1 Canadian Air Division, Winnipeg, Manitoba, and is the centre for North Ame ...

. He left the

Canadian Forces } The Canadian Armed Forces (CAF; french: Forces armées canadiennes, ''FAC'') are the unified military forces of Canada, including sea, land, and air elements referred to as the Royal Canadian Navy, Canadian Army, and Royal Canadian Air Forc ...

in 1984.

RCMP career (1986-2017)

Following his military career, Paulson spent two years at

Simon Fraser University Simon Fraser University (SFU) is a public research university in British Columbia, Canada, with three campuses, all in Greater Vancouver: Burnaby (main campus), Surrey, and Vancouver. The main Burnaby campus on Burnaby Mountain, located ...

Burnaby Burnaby is a city in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia, Canada. Located in the centre of the Burrard Peninsula, it neighbours the City of Vancouver to the west, the District of North Vancouver across the confluence of the Burrard I ...

and then joined the

as a Cadet in 1986. Paulson's first posting was to the Chilliwack RCMP Detachment. He spent the next 19 years in various RCMP postings in British Columbia before being transferred to National Headquarters in Ottawa. From November 2010 to November 2011 Paulson served as the Deputy Commissioner for Federal Policing. On 21 November 2011 Paulson was promoted to Commissioner, one month following the release of his predecessor's recommendations about the Mayerthorpe killing spree. In December 2013 Paulson refused to comment on proposed changes to the way police deal with marijuana offences. He was quoted as saying "I'm a simple country cop, you know? I'm in the business of policing and others are in the business of policy and law". However, the following year he opined "The people that use drugs are not the people we got to be bothering, right? We've got to be sort of helping them." As per RCMP memo RCMP Paulson retired on 30 June 2017, one week before his glacial rollout of the

C8 carbine The Colt Canada C7 is a Canadian family of military rifles, manufactured by Colt Canada (formerly Diemaco prior to 2005), having similar design and function to the Colt M16A3. The C7 and its variants have been adopted as the standard issue ri ...

was the crux in the

Canadian Labour Code The ''Canada Labour Code'' (french: Code canadien du travail) (the Code) is an Act of the Parliament of Canada to consolidate certain statutes respecting labour. The objective of the Code is to facilitate production by controlling strikes & ...

trial of the RCMP over the 2015 Bourque killing spree. The result of the trial was the conviction of the organization led by Paulson for close to seven years.

Awards

References

External links

RCMP biography

His award of Order of Merit of the Police Forces
- Governor General of Canada's website 1958 births Anglophone Quebec people Living people People from Lachute Royal Canadian Mounted Police commissioners Simon Fraser University alumni {{law-enforcement-bio-stub