RCMP union calling on province to pause Sask. Marshals Service

The union representing RCMP officers is calling on the provincial government to pause funding for the Saskatchewan Marshals Service until there is “proper” consultation and a “full plan” is released.

The National Police Federation (NPF) recently wrote a letter to the Saskatoon city council asking it to join nearly 100 municipalities and agencies in urging the province to reconsider the marshal service.

“Let’s pause this and see if we actually made the right decision to go forward with,” said Brian Sauvé, NPF president and CEO.

The marshal service was announced during the Throne Speech in 2022. The province said the goal is to work with RCMP and municipal police forces to enhance law enforcement across Saskatchewan.

The province has earmarked about $14 million for establishing the marshal service, with hopes of having it operational by 2026. Once it’s up and running it will receive an annual budget of $20 million.

Sauvé said he understands how the provincial government thought it was a good idea at the time because many police services struggled to recruit after the pandemic.

“We can understand how the government at the time, the minister of the day, may have chosen to make a bit of a knee-jerk reaction to try and plug a void that was in the moment,” he said in an interview with CTV News.

He said now that police services recovered from the pandemic, it’s time to reassess.

“We should reassess and press pause on this new initiative to determine whether or not it's something that's wanted or needed by the residents of Saskatchewan,” Sauvé said.

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Ward 1 city councillor Darren Hill said he’s supportive of the marshal service because it will give additional resources to policing agencies.

“The budget for the marshal service does not come from the RCMP budgets or any municipal budget, it is entirely a separate budget. They're going to be focusing on high-level gangs, drugs, human trafficking. Things that what we're currently doing are not working to address those issues,” Hill told CTV News.

NPF’s letter to city council cited concerns with staffing, unknown costs, and the lack of consultation.

Minister of Corrections, Policing, and Public Safety, Paul Merriman, said he’s had several conversations with the NPF.

“We've had several face-to-face conversations about that, saying that we need to bring more officers into Saskatchewan,” Merriman said.

In the letter, the NPF asks the province to pause funding for the force until a plan is released.

"We're still in the creation of it, so there's still some expenses. Obviously we have some capital expenses for some vehicles, we have some recruitment, but we will be very transparent with what we, what we're doing with the marshals, just like we are with any of our policing programs,” he said.

The letter is on the agenda for the next governance and priorities meeting on Wednesday.