REGINA — Police recruiting challenges are under the microscope again as concerns are being raised this week about staffing levels for the new Saskatchewan Marshals Service.
At a news conference at the legislature Tuesday, Opposition Community Safety Critic Nicole Sarauer pointed to only two out of 27 current marshals being newly trained officers. The rest were all lateral hires from other police forces.
The NDP said those numbers had been confirmed by Community Safety Minister Michael Weger during budget estimates. Sarauer accused the Marshals Service of having “poached” officers away from local and RCMP police forces.
“The whole point of the Saskatchewan Marshals was, apparently, to address policing shortages in the province. But poaching police officers from one police force in this province to another isn't addressing this issue,” Sarauer said.
“Moving an officer down the highway and giving them a new hat is simply a cover-up for Moe's inability to meaningfully address crime. And it's a plan that hands the taxpayers a much larger bill.”
Sarauer said the province only has to cover 70 per cent of the cost for each new RCMP officer hired in Saskatchewan, but taxpayers are charged an additional 30 per cent for that officer with the Marshals Service.
“This is a bad financial decision that has not proven successful. Instead of real solutions, we see a government trying to hide their own mismanagement by shifting around already existing resources and pretending that they've created something new, all the while costing taxpayers more.”
The concerns over levels of police staffing come in the wake of shooting incidents at Pelican Narrows and Montreal Lake in recent weeks. The NDP has been critical for years of the government creating the Marshals Service, accusing it of taking away resources from the RCMP.
Speaking to reporters in Saskatoon, Weger acknowledged recruiting has been an issue across the board for police services.
“Saskatchewan Marshal Service is facing a similar challenge to what we're seeing with the RCMP,” Weger said.
“It's about finding officers to go through police college, or trying to bring officers into our province from other jurisdictions to be police officers here. It's an ongoing challenge, but there's lots of great work being done on that.”
Weger pointed in particular to the launch of a national advertising campaign in February across the entire country to “recruit people to come and join and look at a career in law enforcement here in Saskatchewan, which I believe is the best location in the country to start a career in law enforcement.”
“So we're definitely doing work to recruit, but it doesn't happen overnight. It's a process that you have to get hired, and then it's a six-month process through police college before you become a Saskatchewan Marshal. So we're working on it, we're actively recruiting as we speak.”
In a further statement issued Tuesday afternoon, Weger said that in addition to the national recruitment campaign, they are also expanding training at the Saskatchewan Police College. For 2026, recruit training positions increased to 96 positions, up 50 per cent from the historical annual average.
Weger also pointed to policing investments for this year for police forces across the province. Those include $310 million to support RCMP operations in Saskatchewan, $26 million for First Nations policing, $22.7 million for the Municipal Police Grants program funding 160 municipal police officers in the province, $6 million to fund Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods officers as part of a commitment to hire 100 additional police officers, and $190,000 in funding for the Small Town and Rural Policing Grant Program.
“When it comes to policing, our government is providing an unprecedented level of funding and support,” Weger said in a statement.
As for the Marshals Service, Weger noted they are investing $4.8 million this year to hire additional marshals officers. He noted the Marshals Service supports and supplements existing police services, including RCMP, First Nations and municipal police services.
He said the strategic investment in the marshals “ensures more officers patrol critical areas, ensuring Saskatchewan families are safe and secure.”
– With files from Jon Perez
