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Community Safety Minister Michael Weger says he’s told the Saskatchewan Marshals Service to pause the development of a special unit.
The provincial government had issued a tender requesting submissions for the supply of equipment for a special response unit of the marshals service, with the list including sniper rifles, a thermal camera, night-vision goggles, helmets and shields and a sound cannon.
Read more:
- Sniper rifles, ballistic helmets on provincial wish list for Sask. marshals
- Saskatchewan Marshals Service seeks snipers, special gear for new unit
- Saskatchewan’s provincial police force, still in its infancy, is working to address crime
On Friday, Michael Weger, Saskatchewan’s Minister of Community Safety, said the government is reversing course.
“I have told the Saskatchewan Marshals Service to pause the development of the Specialized Response Unit. There will be no equipment purchased for this unit,” Weger said in a statement.
“The Marshals’ focus going forward will be on working alongside the Saskatchewan RCMP, Municipal and First Nations police forces to strengthen community safety and protect residents across the province.”
According to the province, establishing a specialized response unit as part of the marshals was “identified as a foundational component of the SMS since its inception.”
Weger said it was an “overly ambitious” employee of the Saskatchewan Marshals Service who began the process of acquiring equipment.
He told reporters Friday that he didn’t know about the process until last week, and neither did Chief Marshal Rob Cameron.
“He’s taken steps internally to review their process if they were to do another RFP (request for proposals) or an RFB (request for bids) to ensure that it follows the proper chain of command, because the chief marshal wasn’t aware that this RFP was going out,” Weger said.
Weger believes the idea of a specialized response unit would have come up when the marshals service was first being formed.
“I think when they were developing the marshals service and talking about the ultimate end goal, there would have been mention of a specialized response unit,” he said. “But at my level, and as the minister of community safety, there has been no direction for the marshals to proceed with a specialized response unit.”
The minister isn’t sure how such a unit would fit within the mandate of the service at this time.
“First, the marshals service has to get to full capacity of 70 sworn officers, which is the target,” Weger explained. “And then there has to be collaboration and communication with our policing partners to determine if a specialized response unit actually does fit in.
“Going back to the mandate of the marshals, they’re supporting all of the police agencies in this province. So if there’s a need and that’s developed with and through a request from their policing partners, then that would be a time to discuss planning and implementing a specialized response unit.”
The effort to acquire the new equipment came under criticism from the Saskatchewan NDP.
Hugh Gordon, NDP’s deputy critic of public safety, said he was concerned that the new equipment seemed to conflict with the police force’s mandate.
“Some of it seems to be justified, but some of the other stuff – like the ballistic helmets, the shields, the sound cannon – a lot of this appears to be like they’re going to be the first (officers) through the door,” he said.
“But they’ve already said they don’t want to do that.”
Saskatchewan NDP critic Hugh Gordon speaks outside of the Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency on Millar Avenue in Saskatoon on Aug. 17, 2026. (Libby Gray/650 CKOM)
After the pause was announced, Gordon issued a statement calling for the costs associated with the unit to be made public.
“Scott Moe and Michael Weger need to be transparent with the people of Saskatchewan about how much public money went in to this non-existent unit that is now being put on pause. They must also release the total cost of all the equipment the Marshals have purchased to date,” Gordon wrote.
“The Sask. Party should be focused on protecting the people of Saskatchewan, keeping our communities safe, and bringing an end to the mental health and addictions crises that continue to worsen across our province. But instead, we see more time and resources wasted on equipment for a Special Response Unit that is not even operational.”
–with files from 650 CKOM’s Libby Gray and The Canadian Press
