‘This is huge for us:’ Sask. RCMP commander thrilled about possible new funding

The commanding officer of the Saskatchewan RCMP says she couldn’t be more thrilled to hear that Saskatchewan’s Mounties could be getting more funding from the provincial government.

On Monday, the government announced that it will begin providing more money to the RCMP if the federal police force can recruit more officers to work in the province.

“This is huge for us and it’s huge for public safety in rural and northern Saskatchewan,” Assistant Commissioner Rhonda Blackmore said during an appearance on The Evan Bray Show on Tuesday.

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Blackmore suggested the new funding model agreement between the Mounties and the provincial government would help solve a loophole that was created by the RCMP at the national level, which impacted the Saskatchewan RCMP directly.

“What really prompted this was the RCMP has changed its model in how it allocates cadets from Depot, and the way it rolled out is that you’re allocated cadets based on affordable positions,” she explained.

“Without funding, you don’t get cadets. The province had said, ‘You’re not supplying cadets, so we aren’t going to give you funding.’ We were kind of caught in this loop where we couldn’t get cadets and couldn’t get funding.”

Blackmore said the announcement from the provincial government on Monday puts the Saskatchewan RCMP back in the game when it comes to recruiting officers.

Blackmore also noted new guidelines recently implemented by the RCMP allow cadets going through training at Depot to choose the province they want to work in. She said that move will help keep cadets from Saskatchewan closer to home during their careers.

“I think that’s a real big deal for potential applicants,” she said.

“You think of the applicant who might not want to be too far from home and stay in the province because maybe they want to have some time off in the fall and participate in harvest on the family farm. We may have Indigenous applicants who want to be close to their communities. This gives them the opportunity, and they don’t take that risk of getting posted to another province somewhere far away.”

Blackmore said the RCMP is seeing an uptick in applications, and younger people are interested in becoming RCMP officers. She said there are also efforts underway to get more officers to come to Saskatchewan and work here.

“A lot of positive things are happening, which I really think is going to increase our numbers,” she said.