Numbers that were given to CBC News after they asked for the
So far, the security costs to protect Pope Francis during his historic trip to Canada last summer have cost the Mounties close to $14 million.
One former Mountie said that, even though the price may seem high, it is the price of diplomacy.
The numbers were given to CBC News after they asked for them through the Access to Information Act. They cover the week of July 24–29, when the Pope visited Edmonton, Quebec City, and Iqaluit.
After a group of people went to the Vatican a few months earlier to ask the Pope to apologize for the Catholic Church’s role in residential schools, the visit was set up quickly.
While he was in Canada, Pope Francis said he was sorry for Catholics who helped Canada’s “devastating” policy of putting Indigenous children in residential schools.
The visit also included private meetings with Indigenous people, a meeting with state officials, public speeches, a pilgrimage, and two public holy masses, one in Edmonton and one in Quebec City.
It also required coordination between different types of police, from the local police to the provincial police to the Mounties.
Numbers released through ATI
The numbers about the RCMP’s role in law enforcement are broken down by province or territory and show that, so far, the total cost has been $13,829,054:
Alberta is made up of Edmonton, Maskwacis, and Lac Ste. Anne
- Overtime: $3,009,783.
- $51,487 in extra pay for other things
- Travel expenditures: $2,308,967.
- $5,213,891 was spent on other things.
- Total: $10,584,128.
Quebec City, Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupré
- Overtime: $697,104.
- $34,201 in extra pay for other things
- Travel expenditures: $1,702,292
- Other expenditures: $331,739.
- Total: $2,765,336.
Nunavut | Iqaluit
- Overtime: $147,131.
- Other incremental pay: $388.
- Travel expenditures: $124,792.
- Other expenditures: $207,279.
- Total: $479,590.
The RCMP said that the costs of Pope Francis’s trip are as of November 22, 2022, and that “additional costs will continue to be processed, possibly until the end of the 2022–23 fiscal year.”
Chris Mathers, a former RCMP officer who now runs a crime and risk consulting company in Canada, the US, and Central America, said, “The numbers seem high because anything with millions in it is obviously high, especially for regular people who are just trying to keep their lives on track.”
“It makes us wonder if we should be taking in the people… “If you want the world to be a better place, you have to talk to people about it, and this is what starts conversations.”
Mathers said that foreign dignitaries who come to Canada, like heads of state or heads of government, are protected by international law and get security protection.
“The main thing that decides the level of protection for an individual is how dangerous they are,” said Mathers.
He used U.S. President Joe Biden as an example to show that the president is always in danger.
“Some people have been threatened in the past, like the Pope,” Mathers said, referring to the 1981 attempt to kill Pope John Paul II.
“The level of security is based on things like whether or not the person coming to visit is involved in any current political or social issues that might be cause for concern.”
Watch: How much did it cost to keep Pope Francis safe during his visit?
Planning and preparatio
He said that the RCMP helps plan travel routes and makes sure that every place a foreign dignitary will visit is safe.
“All the routes have to be set up and checked, and sometimes the manhole covers have to be welded down,” said Mathers.
“Every place they go must be cleaned and then locked up.” If we know the Pope will be at a certain church, we send our people there. They check the whole place for bombs and then have to lock it up so that no one else can come in and put one there.
“That takes a lot of people, a lot of time, and a lot of planning—aa lot of planning.”
Mathers said that other costs for these types of trips include bringing in special equipment and vehicles, aircraft for surveillance and countersurveillance, crowd control, motorcades for traffic, and screening guests at every venue.
Mathers said that the RCMP has the final say on where a dignitary can or cannot go during a visit, but that some dignitaries still make their own plans.
“When a very important person says, “Hey, I think I’ll go to McDonald’s and shake hands.” This makes things very hard for the people who are guarding him. Mathers said that in 2009, when the U.S. President was in Ottawa, he went to the city’s ByWard Market to get a BeaverTail.
