B.C. mayor says 20 more RCMP officers on the way to boost anti-extortion battle

The mayor of Surrey, B.C., says she’s been told Ottawa will send 20 more RCMP officers to battle extortions that have seen homes and businesses riddled with gunfire, after Premier David Eby announced an inter-provincial meeting in the city to tackle the crime wave.

Eby had said in Ottawa that “police leadership” from B.C., Alberta, Manitoba and Ontario would convene in Surrey in the next two weeks to discuss the extortions with the head of the RCMP national team handling the phenomenon.

He said Prime Minister Mark Carney had agreed to commit more federal resources for the RCMP in B.C. to tackle the extortion wave, with the funding to help more anti-gang police take part in extortion cases.

Locke, who will travel to Ottawa next to meet federal representatives, says she welcomes the “significant” additional resources.

However, she told reporters “there is no question” that her community will need more, as the city grapples with numerous extortion files.

Eby says the meeting in Surrey is to ensure “there are no gaps in information-sharing” and that resources are properly allocated to ensure investigations result in arrests and prosecutions.

He met Carney on Wednesday before their trilateral meeting with Alberta Premier Danielle Smith in Ottawa, which is hosting a First Ministers’ Conference.

Surrey’s council passed a motion this week urging Ottawa to declare a national state of emergency over the extortion wave.

The head of British Columbia’s anti-extortion task force said last week that it was “actively hunting” suspects in 32 files across the Lower Mainland.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Jan. 28, 2026.

Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press