Bob Paulson: The Mountie

The Oath with Chuck Rosenberg

MSNBC

Chuck Rosenberg, News, Biden, News Commentary, Government, Politics

4.8 • 15.8K Ratings

🗓️ 23 October 2019

⏱️ 71 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

After a remarkable career in law enforcement, Bob Paulson retired as the 23rd Commissioner of the iconic Royal Canadian Mounted Police. Bob explains the RCMP, also known as The Mounties, and its unique mandate as national, provincial, and municipal law enforcement in Canada. It's also responsible for three territories, eight provinces, more than 150 municipalities, and more than 600 Indigenous communities. On The Oath, Bob discusses his stalled career as a Royal Canadian Air Force pilot and his transition to policing. Bob rose quickly through the enlisted and officer ranks of The Mounties, where he stood out as a thoughtful, intelligent, and selfless leader. As host Chuck Rosenberg’s first international guest on The Oath, Bob discusses the RCMP’s shameful past in connection with Canada’s notorious residential schools and the painful reconciliation that took place in Canada and within the RCMP many years later. If you have thoughtful feedback on this episode or others, please email us at [email protected].

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	I do solemnly swear that I will support and defend the Constitution of the United States against all enemies, foreign and domestic.
0:11.0	But I will bear true faith and allegiance to the sea, that I take this obligation freely.
0:15.5	Without any mental reservation or purpose of evasion, and that I will well and faithfully discharge the duties of the office on which I am about to enter.
0:24.5	So help me God, it's a help me God.
0:26.5	So help me God.
0:28.5	Welcome to the oath. I'm Chuck Rosenberg, and I am honored to be your host for another thoughtful conversation with a fascinating guest.
0:36.0	Bob Paulson, our very first international guest on the oath, served as the 23rd Commissioner of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police.
0:44.8	The iconic Mounties are the Federal Police Force of Canada, but they have a broad mandate also to enforce municipal and provincial law in Canada.
0:54.1	After a stint as an officer and a pilot in the Royal Canadian Air Force, where he learned hard and humbling lessons about leadership.
1:01.6	Bob worked his way up through the RCMP, starting as a constable in a small British Columbia town, where he fell in love with policing.
1:10.6	A thoughtful, progressive and inspirational leader, with a keen sense of humor.
1:15.8	Bob Paulson explains the history of the Mounties, his own successes and failures as he rose through its ranks to lead the Royal Canadian Mounted Police, and lessons learned during an extraordinary career in law enforcement.
1:29.8	Bob Paulson, welcome to the oath.
1:31.8	Well, thank you. Thanks for having me, Chuck.
1:33.3	You know, you are our first international guest. We are here in Ottawa, your nation's capital, beautiful city, and it's awfully nice of you to sit down with us.
1:41.8	Well, I'm honored to be asked.
1:43.8	Many of our listeners are from Canada and other countries around the world, but most of our listeners are American.
1:50.3	And so they may not know much about the Royal Canadian Mounted Police or that you were its former commissioner, and I was going to ask you a bunch of questions about it and about you.
1:59.3	Sure, yeah.
2:00.3	So tell us about you.
2:01.8	Me, well, I retired two years from the RCMP, but I was a career RCMP officer. I started out as a constable at the lowest rank in British Columbia in 1986.
2:12.3	Is that where you grew up?
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from MSNBC, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of MSNBC and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.