RCMP personnel at Canada-U.S. border up 35% in last three weeks: commissioner

RCMP Commissioner Mike Duheme speaks about the increase of RCMP staffing at the Canada-U.S. border amid border security demands from U.S. President Trump.

RCMP staffing at the Canada-U.S. border has increased by 35 per cent compared to three weeks ago, according to Commissioner Mike Duheme. The increase comes amid threats from U.S. President Donald Trump to impose significant tariffs if Canada does not bolster border security.

In an interview on CTV’s Power Play, Duheme confirmed the national police service has increased its posture at the border by “temporarily” moving resources from other places.

“There’s priorities that pop up all the time,” Duheme told host Vassy Kapelos. “We have to be flexible as an organization, and this is not different for any law enforcement, to be able to redeploy resources to a priority with minimal impact on what we’re doing.”

On Saturday, Trump signed an executive order that would impose a 25 per cent tariff on Canadian goods and a 10 per cent tariff on Canadian energy, citing concerns around border security.

Canada was then granted a 30-day reprieve from those tariffs following a call between Trump and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau on Monday, in which Trudeau pledged to expand a $1.3-billion border protection plan his government first announced in December.

In addition to appointing a “fentanyl czar,” Trudeau wrote on X that nearly 10,000 frontline personnel “are and will be working on protecting the border.”

Duheme confirmed the 10,000 is a combination of Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) and RCMP personnel. Provinces have also offered up officers to help in the effort, the commissioner added.

The RCMP, meanwhile, has experienced ongoing challenges with recruitment and staffing shortages, including in Saskatchewan and Manitoba, which are seeing their already-high number of vacancies growing.

When Duheme was asked by Kapelos if he could confirm moving RCMP personnel to the border won’t result in resources being stretched or affect the public safety of Canadians, he said the police service’s “number-one priority is public safety.”

On Thursday, CTV News asked Public Safety Minister David McGuinty about the RCMP moving resources from other stations to the border, and whether McGuinty could assure Canadians public safety is not being put at risk to appease Trump.

“I have complete confidence in the Royal Canadian Mounted Police’s ability to deploy the assets and the individuals we need at the border, complete confidence in their ability to follow up on their both contract policing and their federal policing responsibilities,” McGuinty said. “I take what Commissioner Duheme says at face value.”