Mission – The City of Mission is making a significant investment in public safety with Council’s commitment to add six new firefighters and four municipal support staff positions for the Mission RCMP detachment.
“There is no more basic expectation from our community than keeping our neighbours and neighbourhoods safe—except protecting those who protect us,” said Mayor Paul Horn “Council’s decision to add six firefighters and four municipal-funded RCMP members responds directly to two independent reviews that found our current services have fallen behind and are becoming unstable, unsafe, and unsustainable.”
The decision follows a comprehensive review of the City’s fire and police services undertaken in late 2025 as part of the City’s broader efficiency and capacity review. The resulting plans identified critical staffing pressures and set out priorities to ensure public safety services can continue to meet the needs of Mission’s growing community.
“The reviews made clear that the pressures on fire and policing are now affecting other essential investments,” Horn added. “Our medic truck could not operate without sufficient staffing, and police officers could not be on the street because clerical demands are pulling them away from frontline work.”
The Fire Servicing Master Plan Update identifies eight priority areas for the City’s fire-rescue service, with core staffing identified as the most urgent need. Adding six firefighters will strengthen the City’s capacity to respond to emergencies, support firefighter safety, and maintain service levels as demand grows.
The Police Servicing and Resource Plan includes 13 recommendations to support the Mission RCMP detachment. The plan identifies additional municipal support staff as its most critical priority. The four new positions will provide administrative and operational support that helps sworn RCMP officers spend more time focused on frontline policing and community safety.
“By accepting the recommendations of both independent reviews, Council has taken two vital first steps: stabilizing services today and committing to a revised, sustainable model for the future,” Horn said. “The next Council will need to continue this work by reviewing response and service levels, establishing a sustainable funding model, setting clear performance targets and regular public reporting, and advocating to the Province for additional ambulance resources and support addressing street disorder.”
Council made the decision to commit to this investment, which will see $1,874,335 added to 2027 budget to fund the addition of these new protective services personnel at the September 21 regular meeting of Council. Work is underway to start recruitment for these roles.
