The Supreme Court of Canada gave rank-and-file RCMP members a major morale boost Friday when it affirmed their right to engage in meaningful collective bargaining.

The high court did not explicitly state that the Mounties have the right to form a union, but the justices effectively cleared a path to that possibility.

The landmark 6-1 ruling gives the federal government a year to create a new labour relations scheme, setting the stage for talks among RCMP members, Commissioner Bob Paulson and the Harper government.

The Supreme Court overturned a previous ruling of its own from the 1990s which upheld an exclusion that barred the Mounties from forming unions like federal public servants, who gained the right to collective bargaining in the late 1960s.

The high court says that overturning its precedent “is not a step to be lightly taken,” but in this case it was justified because case law has evolved since it ruled in 1999, when it was dealing with a narrower issue.

Friday’s decision was written by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin and Justice Louis LeBel and will ultimately affect officers across the country.