Murray Wood: Police officers in the line of fire need more support from Ottawa.
Two RCMP officers were wounded in Melville, and officers have been killed in Montreal and Toronto. Murray Wood says the ...
The Saskatchewan Public Safety Agency has announced that Steve Roberts, its vice-president of operations, has moved up his retirement to June 30 of this year. Both parties agreed on the announcement.
The news comes after an independent review from MNP stated that there were “significant gaps” in how the province and the SPSA handled last year’s intense wildfire season. MNP made 11 recommendations as a part of the report, one of which called for a full review of the SPSA’s structure.
Read more:
- Review finds Sask. Public Safety Agency ‘was not fully prepared’ for 2025 wildfire season
- NDP slams ‘damning’ review of Saskatchewan’s 2025 wildfire response
- Minister answers questions about budget for wildfire review recommendations
The people of Denare Beach, where more than 200 homes and structures were lost in last year’s wildfires, were involved in MNP’s review, according to Deputy Mayor Karen Thompson. She said the community’s council, fire department and affected community members all gave input during the review.
“The MNP report coming out really exposed some shortcomings and some failures on the part of the SPSA. So it’s inevitable that you’re going to see people in those leadership roles and management that are going to suffer the consequences,” Thompson said.
“I think that this probably is a consequence. Although it was mutually agreed, I think it was inevitable.”
Thompson pointed to comments made by Roberts in an article back in August when he praised the SPSA’s efforts during the 2025 wildfire season.
“When you consider that most communities were impacted by wildfires this year, our success rate and ability to protect people is extraordinary,” Roberts said.
That comment has not sat well with the people of Denare Beach, who watched half of their community burn on 2025.
“If you were to ask anyone in Denare Beach, whether they lost their home or not, but especially those who suffered losses, that the efforts made for Denare Beach would not qualify as extraordinary,” Thompson said.
“That was just something that stuck out from that interview almost a year ago, and I think that those remarks were just a little insensitive.”
In a statement announcing Roberts’ upcoming retirement, the SPSA said it will begin the search for his replacement immediately.
“The successful candidate will be in a position to help implement the 11 immediate actions directed by the Government of Saskatchewan in response to the MNP Review of the 2025 Wildfire Season,” the agency noted.
Thompson said she wants to see better communication with those affected by wildfires. She said there was a lot of vital information from local people that could have helped the firefighting efforts, a sentiment that’s similar to what some members of the public said earlier this summer when dealing with the Lobstick Fire near MacDowall and Shellbrook.
“They need to be able to communicate with us and, as well, they need to be able to listen when we’re communicating with them,” Thompson explained.
“That’s paramount to any success. We just felt that they weren’t listening to us when we were calling for help, and I think that was one of the epic failures on their part. We’ve got a lot of local knowledge here that wasn’t being listened to.”
Denare Beach has still not seen all of its residents return home after last year’s devastation, but Thompson said that spirits are high as rebuilding continues.
