The RCMP has hired the University of Regina to study the "intense and unrelenting" pressures and stresses of policing and their effects on the mental health of RCMP officers.

The goal of the study, which is expected to last a decade and is valued at up to $8.9 million for its first three years, is "to identify psychological and physiological signs of trauma and stress-related disorders, including post-traumatic stress," according to a press release issued by Public Safety Canada on Friday.

RCMP Assistant Commissioner Stephen White said mental health has been a focus of the force for the last few years.

He said since 2006, 40 serving or retired members have committed suicide.

The RCMP encourages employees struggling with mental health-related issues to make their issues known so they can be addressed, White said.

"For us to be able to start working with them — get them the support, the care they need — we need them to come forward, really minimizing the stigma, and I think we're making progress with regards to that. [We] still have work to do but I think we're making progress."

In 2014, more than 40 per cent of long-term disability claims for former RCMP members were related to mental health conditions.

"We initiated a mental health strategy in 2014. The first early years of that strategy really was around trying to create an environment in the organization that really minimizes the stigma around mental health," White said.

Officers to sport 'wearable technology'

RCMP members will help the university by using "wearable technology."

Annual psychological assessments and self-reporting measures will also be used, through participation in the program will be voluntary. Data collected from individual officers will be kept anonymous.

University of Regina professor Nicholas Carleton will lead the 10-year study. (CBC)

Researchers will start by assessing cadets as they begin their training at the RCMP academy in Regina. They will continue to monitor over a 10-year period.

"We're going to be engaging in diagnostic level interviews. We'll be recording biopsychological data, we will be recording the self-report data. We will be doing it at a size and scope that's completely unprecedented," said Nicholas Carleton, a professor at the University of Regina and the Scientific Director for the Canadian Institute for Public Safety Research and Treatment.

Internal issues

One RCMP officer who listened to Friday's announcement thought the call for more study was unnecessary.

Insp. Stephen Gloade is off duty — on sick leave — from the service. He protested outside federal minister of public safety Ralph Goodale's office on Friday.

He said studies on the well-being of RCMP members have already done, and that members already have access to registered psychologists.

Off duty sick RCMP officer Stephen Gloade. (CBC)

What needs to change, he said, is certain internal structures at the RCMP that prevent that care from being accountable.

He gave an example.

"In the health services program that oversee members that are off duty sick, the person in charge of that is an inspector," he said. "That person also oversees a doctor and a psychologist and they report back to the inspector. Really that has no business coming back to us — a member or an employee's health issues.

"That should be dealt with completely separately, much like harassment allegations."

Study will serve RCMP and others says Goodale

The study itself had originally been announced in August but the contract was officially awarded to the U of R on Friday. The university won the contract over other, unspecified organizations through a competitive process.

RCMP members will volunteer and remain anonymous as part of the decade-long study.

Goodale made the announcement at the RCMP depot in Regina.

He said the RCMP is already providing access to mental health services and training to its members, but the results from the study should target what is needed

"The information that we will gain from this study will hopefully make those services stronger and better and more effective over the long-term into the future," said Goodale.

It's also hoped the results will potentially prove useful to other groups such as firefighters and paramedics.