The RCMP public complaints watchdog has launched an investigation into the conduct of Mounties in northern British Columbia.

Ian McPhail, the interim chairman of the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP, has taken the rare step of initiating the complaint himself, rather than waiting for one from the public.

The probe comes after the New York-based group Human Rights Watch issued a report in February outlining allegations of rape and other abuses of aboriginal women at the hands of police.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper asked the commission to look into the allegations shortly after the report was released, but urged potential victims to come forward on their own.

McPhail says there are reasonable grounds to initiate the complaint, given the concerns raised by the group.

Two Human Rights Watch researchers visited 10 communities in northern B.C. last summer, where they documented accounts from aboriginal women of how they were allegedly mistreated by police.

The communities are connected to B.C.'s so-called "Highway of Tears," a notorious stretch of road where a number of women have disappeared.

The commission said it will examine how Mounties in those communities use force, and how they police public intoxication, conduct searches and handle reports of missing persons and domestic violence.

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