The following letter was sent to the reporter and the managing editor at CBC regarding an article on recent officer deaths.
June 26, 2026
As President of the National Police Federation, representing approximately 20,000 RCMP Members across Canada, I feel compelled to respond to your recent article examining the murders of police officers through the lens of historical averages and statistical trends, published the day after a Montreal officer was murdered, and two RCMP officers injured in what we consider an attempted murder.
Statistics have an important place in journalism. But when police officers are murdered in the line of duty, the conversation should never begin or end with normalizing police killings as above or below average.
One police officer killed in the line of duty is one too many.
To suggest that these tragedies are somehow less alarming because they fall “within the historical range” is hurtful and tone deaf to police, their families, friends, and many Canadians. The officers killed in recent weeks were not statistics. They were people. They had spouses waiting for them to come home, children who will now grow up without a father, parents who have buried a son or daughter, and colleagues who are once again reminded that every shift could be their last.
Your article relied almost exclusively on academic voices to explain these events who have no experience on the front line. Missing were the perspectives of the people who understand this reality best — the police officers who answerthese calls, and the police services and associations that represent and care about the men and women who continue to put on the uniform despite the growing risks they face. That absence left readers with an incomplete picture.
I would guess that this same approach would never have been taken had several nurses, paramedics, firefighters or other frontline professionals been killed while serving Canadians over the course of two weeks. Would the central message have been that these deaths remain statistically uncommon? Or would Canadians have expected a conversation about why this happened, the devastating impact on families and coworkers, and what more could be done to protect those who dedicate their lives to serving others?
No profession should have its on-the-job killings measured by statistics or an average. Grieving families deserve more from those with a platform. Who would tell a grieving family that their loved one’s death is somehow less significant because it has happened before? Police officers deserve our humanity.
Our Members understand that policing is inherently dangerous. They willingly accept that responsibility every time they put on their uniform and move towards danger to protect others.
Journalism has an important responsibility to provide context, but context should be respectful of those who serve, and particularly the families and people deeply grieving their loss. It should never leave Canadians with the impression that violence against police officers is simply an expected occupational hazard to be tracked on a graph. It should never normalize, or even risk normalizing, violence against anyone; especially those who serve.
I hope CBC will reflect on how stories like this are framed in the future. Canadians deserve reporting that includes the voices of those who live this reality every day. They deserve reporting that is respectful and does not normalize or incent acceptance of murder. More importantly, the officers we have lost deserve to be remembered not as stats in a dataset, but as Canadians whose lives were stolen in the ultimate sacrifice in service to their communities and their country, and as heroes we will never forget.
Respectfully,
Rob Farrer, M.O.M.
President
National Police Federation
For more information: https://npf-fpn.com/
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