Saskatchewan and the RCMP signed an agreement that would see the province fund hundreds more officers if the Mounties can recruit to fill those positions.
The new commitment will be a game-changer, said Deputy Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, commanding officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP.
The force has long been understaffed and earlier this year, Saskatchewan’s officer-per-capita ratio was at its lowest point in decades.
“We were in this circle of continuous chasing trying to find funding or agencies,” Blackmore said.
The RCMP was caught in a loop: Mounties couldn’t fill positions without promised funding, but the province couldn’t commit dollars without having officers on the ground.
“We were stuck in this gray area,” said Public Safety Minister Paul Merriman.
Merriman said Saskatchewan money is now on the table to fund a full complement of 1,174 officers. There are about 250 positions seeking to be filled, Merriman said.
Problems with RCMP recruitment and staffing have long been reported across the country, with many regions seeing significant vacancy rates.
Merriman said the new agreement ensures Saskatchewan is “the first of the provinces to be able to have our dollars on the table so the RCMP can recruit people from across the country or retain a group of cadets that are coming out of depot.” “
About $7.7 million has been allocated for 50 agents in the first year. This figure will increase as agents begin working in the province.
Saskatchewan police constables are funded through the Provincial Police Service Agreement, under which the province pays about 70 per cent of the costs and the federal government covers the rest.
The new money promised for additional officers comes on top of the $228 million allocated to the Saskatchewan RCMP in last month’s provincial budget. Additionally, the budget included $21.6 million for the RCMP’s First Nations policing program.
Another $7 million was earmarked to start a new sheriff service. The new police service, which will be operational with 70 officers in 2026, is expected to cost around $20 million a year.
Merriman said a full complement of marshals and the sheriff service are needed because “Saskatchewan citizens have asked this government to make sure communities are safe.”
The marshals service has been criticized as redundant and expensive by the National Police Federation, the union that represents RCMP officers.
However, Morgan Buckingham, director of the federation’s Prairie region, said this new funding commitment to the RCMP is an important step for safety and a morale boost for officers currently stationed in Saskatchewan.
“Our members will be adequately resourced, which will result in safer communities for Saskatchewan,” he said.
Two coroner’s inquests were held this year into a deadly mass stabbing in Saskatchewan and many of their recommendations were directed at RCMP staffing and training levels. The investigations specifically recommended fully staffing specialized RCMP units and increasing resources to track down people involved in drug trafficking.
Eleven people were killed and 17 others injured during the attack on James Smith Cree and the nearby village of Weldon in 2022.
Buckingham said the investigations demonstrated the hard work of the Mounties. But he said he also demonstrated how officers have been dealing with resource challenges in Saskatchewan for a long time.
“For them to see a light at the end of the tunnel is huge,” he said.
— This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 15, 2024.