A community safety program piloted in Fort Liard appears less likely to expand to other communities because of a legislative obstacle to continued federal funding.
Currently, Fort Liard employs three community safety officers through the project, which is managed by the hamlet with support from the territorial government and RCMP.
The community safety officers are the first of their kind in the territory.
Those officers cannot enforce laws but are trained to respond to non-criminal concerns, patrol the community, find ways to prevent crime and work closely with RCMP.
The pilot is 52-percent funded by the federal government through Public Safety Canada and 48-percent funded by the territorial government.
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However, the NWT government said last week, Public Safety Canada is now asking the territory to make legislative changes that the GNWT does not think it can carry out – or at least not in time.
In a statement, the NWT’s Department of Justice said Public Safety Canada had told all provinces and territories that they must “have community safety officer legislation in place to be eligible” for federal cash.
The department said it had told Public Safety Canada that “this change will negatively impact small jurisdictions that have limited capacity to enact new legislation.” The GNWT added it is lobbying Ottawa to change that rule.
In the meantime, the territorial government said federal counterparts have confirmed funding for Fort Liard’s pilot project will continue until its contract expires on March 31, 2026. The project costs about $300,000 annually.
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Despite multiple attempts to reach Public Safety Canada on the matter, Cabin Radio received no response.
Federal approach ‘hinders’ program
In the Legislative Assembly last week, Monfwi MLA Jane Weyallon Armstrong asked Premier RJ Simpson – who is also the minister of justice – if there had been a noticeable reduction in Fort Liard’s crime rate since the community safety officer pilot began.
Simpson said that despite the presence of community safety officers in the hamlet, the crime rate was on the rise, as it has been across the NWT. He said there had been an increase in the number of calls for service to RCMP.
“In many instances, they’re fighting an uphill battle,” he told MLAs, adding community safety officers responded to 600 incidents between September 2021 and December 2024.
“Things like providing safe rides, mental health checks, supports for people who are intoxicated, maybe just walking down the street. Those are important things that do impact the crime rate and public safety,” Simpson continued.
“They work with the RCMP on check stops. They’ve provided assistance during floods and wildfire evacuations, supporting Elders. And so there’s more to what this group does than just the numbers reflected in the crime rate.”
Stressing the importance of expanding the program to other small communities, Weyallon Armstrong inquired whether there was potential for doing so.
Simpson said an evaluation of the program is set to take place in winter next year.
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Metrics considered will include calls for service received by community safety officers and RCMP, nights people spent in cells and other local crime statistics reported to the hamlet government.
“When looking at whether or not to expand this program, we need to look at how well it’s working, and so there is the evaluation that will be undertaken,” he said.
Simpson said while the program was funded entirely by GNWT at first, the federal government began sharing its costs in 2023.
That now appears to be ending in 2026.
“We have just learned from the federal government that we will no longer be eligible for any federal contributions for community safety officers after next year,” the premier said.
“That sort-of hinders our plan and ability to expand this program to additional communities.”
