According to a Nov. 3 news release, the province’s government is investing $2.8 million in support of the force’s sexual violence investigation unit in a bid to “strengthen investigations, support survivors and improve safety in communities around the province.”
The unit’s first office will be based in the town of Shediac and will open later this year. Additional offices will be established next year in Oromocto and Tracadie and will be run by RCMP headquarters in the capital of Fredericton.
“The RCMP will staff the new unit with officers trained in a trauma-informed approach to complex sexual violence investigations and sex trafficking,” states the release.
New Brunswick Public Safety Minister Robert Gauvin said in a statement that the new unit is needed to address serious instances of sexual violence in the province — including cases involving human trafficking.
“By giving the New Brunswick RCMP specialized tools, expertise and dedicated resources, we can improve investigations, increase successful prosecutions and, most importantly, ensure survivors are treated with dignity and respect,” said Gauvin.
Lyne Chantal Boudreau, New Brunswick’s minister responsible for women’s equality, echoed Gauvin’s sentiments.
“Survivors of sexual violence need a system that supports them at every step,” said Boudreau. “This investment complements the $9.2 million our government announced earlier this year for community-based services, transition houses and outreach. Together, these initiatives strengthen the network of supports that help survivors heal and rebuild their lives.”
The release notes that the establishment of the unit “stems from recommendations made” in the national report The Way Forward: The RCMP’s sexual assault review and victim support action plan.
The report, released in 2017, examined how the RCMP in Canada handles “unfounded” sexual violence cases — investigations concluding no laws were broken and that no attempt to break the law had taken place.
The report stated that while young women are the most vulnerable to sex assault, there are also male victims and victims from the LGBTQ2+ community.
It noted actions the RCMP needed to take when it came to eliminating stereotypes about victims, developing trauma-informed training and overhauling how sexual violence investigations are overseen.
Another, more recent paper, released in 2025, points to increases of sexual violence in New Brunswick.
According to Sexual Violence: Key Concepts and Statistics, the number of victims who reported sexual assault to police in New Brunswick “increased dramatically” from 2016 to 2023.
And it suggested that those numbers may only be the tip of the iceberg.
“Despite the general increase in police-reported sexual assault, the number of sexual assaults reported to police is likely a significant underestimation of the true extent of sexual assault in Canada,” states the report, noting that “[t]hese types of offences frequently go unreported to police.”
As for the new unit in New Brunswick, a high-ranking RCMP official in that province said its creation “will have an immediate positive impact on frontline” investigations.
“This specialized unit will allow us to focus on the most severe and complex cases, work more closely with partners … and build capacity across the province,” said RCMP commanding officer Matco Sirotic.
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