HALIFAX — Municipal police chiefs in Nova Scotia are questioning the provincial government's plan to expand the services of the RCMP as part of a push to restructure and modernize policing in the province.
In an interview Wednesday, Ryan Leil, chief of the New Glasgow Regional Police, said the existing model is working for the 10 municipalities in the province that have their own police force.
“We feel that centralizing policing is the opposite direction than what we should be looking at,” said Leil. “We should be looking at models of policing that can be tailored around the specific needs of unique communities.”
Leil said he was speaking on behalf of municipal chiefs who are part of the Nova Scotia Chiefs of Police Association. He said the government's move is contrary to trends seen elsewhere in the country where some communities have opted to revert to municipal police services or where provinces such as Alberta are planning a provincial force.
Earlier this month, Alberta Premier Danielle Smith said that while the new Alberta Sheriffs Police Service won’t replace the RCMP entirely, it would give municipalities the option to contract the new service in place of the Mounties.
A report by Deloitte released last month examined the structure of policing in Nova Scotia and recommended that a provincial force be created to better serve the public. However, the provincial government has opted to expand the RCMP’s coverage as the provincial police force instead of creating a service similar to the provincial forces in Ontario and Quebec.
Nova Scotia Justice Minister Becky Druhan has also said that local forces that can’t meet provincial standards, such as having specialized services like dive teams, would be replaced by the RCMP. Leil said municipal police chiefs are concerned about the implications for towns if they can’t afford to meet the standards.
He said that since 1994, municipal police forces have been able to contract RCMP services at no extra costs to municipalities under an existing agreement. Druhan has said a new funding arrangement with the RCMP is being worked out and she added that municipalities who need specialized services will have to deal exclusively with the national force in the future.
“We have no idea what costing is going to look like and that creates great uncertainty and questions around affordability,” said Leil.
He said municipal police forces are often composed of officers who are either born and raised in the towns they serve, or who have made those communities their home. This means they are more connected to their communities.
“We want to be part of effective solutions and we don’t want to lose our autonomy,” Leil said. “It feels like the options are being forced and it feels the options are not based on collaboration.”
The government launched a review of policing in 2023, about six months after a public inquiry released its final report on the shooting rampage in central and northern Nova Scotia that left 22 people dead in April 2020. The report was highly critical of the RCMP response to the killings, and highlighted issues such as poor co-operation and co-ordination between the Mounties and municipal police.
Druhan said last month that the pending changes, along with an audit of local forces that is due in the fall, are part of ensuring Nova Scotians can get “equitable police services.”
In an emailed statement Wednesday, Druhan said the government is meeting with municipalities to ensure they are able to make decisions that make their communities safe.
“We appreciate and value the chiefs’ perspectives and input they provided during the police review,” the minister said. “Our current focus is on meeting with municipalities. We also plan to reach out to Nova Scotia police chiefs in the near future."
This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 16, 2025.
Keith Doucette, The Canadian Press
