The Saskatchewan Marshals Service (SMS) and Red Pheasant Cree Nation signed a memorandum of understanding in October 2025 to increase collaboration and improve safety. The Prince Albert Grand Council is deciding whether to pursue its own Indigenous-led police service or continue to work with the current enforcement arms including RCMP and SMS. Premier Scott Moe said everyone has a common goal: safer communities. (Image Credit: SMS/Facebook)

By paNOW Staff

Common goal: safer communities

“We’re building capacity at all levels”: Premier discusses future of policing, including Indigenous-led forces

Mar 20, 2026 | 4:53 PM

While the province is investing in law enforcement capacity through additional police officers, First Nations leaders are weighing whether a community-based policing model could better address local needs.

Premier Scott Moe said both approaches are ultimately aimed at the same goal: safer communities.

“What this is… is really about taking a holistic approach at removing the drugs from our community and keeping our community safer for the families that live here,” he said. “We have to start making efforts to eradicate these drugs, and that is going to take enforcement.”

In this week’s budget, the province announced an additional $4.8 million will be invested to hire new officers under the Saskatchewan Marshals Service (SMS). The service has been in operation since spring 2025, although its impact on public safety hasn’t been made abundantly clear just yet.

“We measure the marshal service by the very mandate that it has, and that’s to support our municipal enforcement agencies and our RCMP… in a focus on making our community safer,” Moe said.

Minor Hockey

U15 AA Pirates, U18 AA Foxes lead respective series heading into Game 2 of North Finals

37m ago

Traumatic events

Prince Albert car jacking results in five year sentence

1h ago

Common goal: safer communities

"We're building capacity at all levels": Premier discusses future of policing, including Indigenous-led forces

1h ago

Saskatchewan is also adding 100 provincially-funded municipal police officers and 180 RCMP officers.

“We’re building that capacity out at all levels, Marshals included, and the next step is to collaborate… as to how we are going to co-ordinate removing the drugs from individuals and from our communities,” he said.

The premier also addressed nearly $26 million in funding earmarked for First Nations policing and safety initiatives. He described the funding as an expansion of existing community-based enforcement and security services in Indigenous communities – like the First Nations Community Safety Officer program, which appointed special constables, enabling them to enforce provincial laws and respond to low-risk public safety calls.

“This is getting ahead of the federal government, where we are actually filling in what should be a federal funding space for safer communities across the province, whether they be urban centres, rural communities or Indigenous communities,” Moe said.

David Sanderson, who has been leading community engagement on First Nations-led policing for the Prince Albert Grand Council, said there is strong interest in change among its 50,000 members.

“Probably 95 per cent of communities are engaged to making change,” Sanderson said. “They’re looking for something different than the current police model we have now.”

He said many concerns stem from the current system, in which the RCMP is responsible for large geographic areas, sometimes leading to inconsistent response times.

Under a First Nations-led model, policing would be based directly in communities rather than dispatched from distant detachments.

No final decision has been made, but it may happen within the year.

A policing symposium is scheduled for March 26 in Prince Albert. PAGC will present the results of a feasibility study and outline what a potential police service could look like. Community members, leadership, and representatives from the province are expected to attend, along with members of already established Indigenous police services in the country.

From there, PAGC will return to individual communities to gather feedback and seek formal approval through Band Council Resolutions.

“It all comes down to the nations themselves,” Sanderson said. “If they want it, then it’s up to them to say, ‘hey, let’s do it.’”

A final decision could come at the organization’s annual general assembly in October, after which negotiations with the provincial and federal governments would begin.

If approved, Sanderson said the plan would unfold over roughly 10 years.

However it plays out, Moe said, “I truly hope, whatever they would stand up, is collaborating very closely with the larger enforcement arms that we have in this province.”

—

panews@pattisonmedia.com