A years-long investigation into a special RCMP unit that polices protests against resource extraction in British Columbia is finished but can’t be finalized because the RCMP’s oversight body has been without a chairperson for more than a year.

The Civilian Review and Complaints Commission (CRCC) receives and oversees public complaints against the Mounties.

It recently announced the completion of a systemic investigation into the Community-Industry Response Group (C-IRG), which drew national attention in 2019 when the unit launched a large-scale enforcement action against Wet’suwet’en-led opposition to the Coastal GasLink pipeline.

The CRCC announced the probe in March 2023 following a flurry of public complaints. Now, that investigation is among 365 files needing approval to finalize. The problem is, there’s nobody at the agency with the authority to finalize them.

It’s unclear why the CRCC has been without a chairperson since January 2025. The federal government is responsible for appointing someone to the top job. Requests for information from the Ministry of Public Safety were not returned by the time of publishing.