Merriman defends marshal service after criticisms from local leaders

Saskatchewan’s policing minister is defending the government’s plan to launch a provincial police force after the idea came under criticism from the RCMP union and a number of local leaders.

The Saskatchewan Marshals Service, which was first proposed in 2022, is expected to be up and running in 2026 with 70 officers and an annual cost of about $20 million. The service will be based in Prince Albert, with several smaller satellite offices around the province.

According to the provincial government, the new force will primarily police rural and remote areas with high crime rates, arrest people who are wanted on warrants, and assist other police agencies.

Last week, the National Police Federation – a union representing RCMP officers across Canada – spearheaded a letter calling for the government to cancel its plans to launch the new police force. The letter was signed by the leaders of 89 communities around the province, who echoed previous comments from the Saskatchewan NDP, calling the provincial plan vague and saying the money would be better spent bolstering the Mounties’ budget.

Paul Merriman, Saskatchewan’s minister of corrections, policing and public safety, responded to the letter during an appearance on The Evan Bray Show on Monday. He said the goal of the new service is to get more officers working in the province in order to bring down crime rates and keep residents safe.

Listen to Evan Bray’s full interview with Paul Merriman:

The minister said rural crime remains a major issue in Saskatchewan, with more and more areas being affected by addiction-driven offending. The solution includes more police officers, Merriman said, and that means bolstering existing law-enforcement services as well as adding 70 new officers through the marshals service.

“We want to try to elevate all of our policing, and the marshals are one piece of that, but they’re not the only piece,” Merriman said.

“We also want to make sure that we’re elevating the RCMP.”

The Saskatchewan RCMP has had challenges with recruitment recently, Merriman noted, leaving the province about “130 to 150 officers short.”

The Government of Saskatchewan sent a letter to Ottawa this year offering $21 million to fund new RCMP positions in the province, a fact which Merriman highlighted repeatedly during the interview. He praised the recruiting efforts by Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore, commanding officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP, but noted that the province has no ability to directly hire more Mounties. That means a new, provincial police service is the only option for the Government of Saskatchewan to proactively add more police officers to rural areas affected by high crime rates.

While the new police force won’t be up and running until 2026, the service has already developed branding and uniform designs, and launched social media accounts. (Saskatchewan Marshals Service/Twitter)

Merriman believes there has been some “misinformation” regarding the provincial government’s support for the federal police force.

“We don’t want the marshals to replace the RCMP, and that has to be crystal clear,” Merriman said.

“We know that there is an increasing amount of crime in all areas of our province – in the cities and in rural (areas) and in the north. We need to have more officers.”

Merriman said he wants to hear any concerns that community leaders and stakeholders have when it comes to policing, and noted that he’s set up quarterly meetings with both the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities and the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association in order to discuss the plan for the new marshals service in depth.

Not all local leaders are unhappy with the plan for the new provincial police force. Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne has said the new service will bring benefits to the city, and Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association president Randy Goulden has said he looks forward to working with the Saskatchewan Marshals Service.

Rob Cameron, who previously spent more than three decades as an RCMP officer, has been hired to take on the role of chief marshal. In a previous interview, he emphasized that the goal is to enhance Saskatchewan’s policing landscape, rather than replacing other police forces.

–with files from The Canadian Press and paNOW