A new report on organized crime has concluded that the Yukon’s illegal drug market may be more expansive and lucrative than previously believed as organized crime groups in British Columbia and Alberta expand their drug lines into the Yukon, according to an RCMP statement on March 13.
Between 2020 to 2024, five organized crime networks have been identified operating in the Yukon. That number remains unchanged from a 2022 report on organized crime.
RCMP won’t release the full 2025 report to the News or the public due to the “sensitive information” it contains, according to Yukon RCMP communications.
The report was done by the Criminal Intelligence Service British Columbia/Yukon in December 2024.
An executive summary of the report has been made public in the RCMP statement. The organized crime groups or gangs believed to be operating in the territory aren’t named in the statement.
Further insights have emerged since the first report, according to the statement from Chief Supt. Lindsay Ellis, the Yukon RCMP's commanding officer.
Ellis told the News by phone on March 14 that there was a lack of understanding around who is contributing to organized crime in the territory.
“For the first time, the addition of non-identifying data provided by the Government of Yukon Department of Health and Social Services overlays the analysis and has provided an overarching view of what many Yukoners have experienced over many years: the direct, and tragic impact of organized crime influence in our communities, including loss, violent crime, property crime, and overall sense of safety, shaken,” reads Ellis’s statement.
Fifteen to 20 kilograms of high purity cocaine is being supplied to and trafficked in the Yukon per month, as noted in the summary. That number is up 75 per cent from 2021 and could continue to climb based on the lucrative market the territory holds and the expansion of organized crime groups from other provinces wanting to cash in on the market.
Cocaine is the most commonly used illegal drug in the Yukon, per the report.
“In 2024, large cocaine seizures in the Yukon will have temporarily disrupted Organized Crime supply chains and may be contributing to the reduced number of drug related deaths so far this year,” reads the executive summary.
“Government funding put into policing and other harm reduction programs for 2024 appear to be having a positive effect. Yet the Yukon has had the lowest per-capita costs associated to policing compared with Canada's other Territories, Northwest Territories and Nunavut.”
The Yukon has seen “enhanced” gang activity over the past five years or more, territorial Justice Minister Tracy-Anne McPhee told a late November 2024 press conference.
The 2022 report mentioned above points to at least five organized crime networks with more than 250 individuals located within and outside the territory operating as part of a growing synthetic opioid market.
"The impact of organized crime touches many facets of our society, and this report provides important insights into the influence it has on our territory, our communities and our most vulnerable populations. We will continue to tackle the root causes of organized criminal activity through the RCMP and the support of the Safer Communities and Neighbourhoods Unit, crime prevention initiatives, social and health programs, and the people of the Yukon," McPhee said in the statement released by RCMP on March 13.
"It is imperative that we continue to work collaboratively to establish a way forward in order to have the biggest impact on organized crime and the effects it has on the Substance Use Health Emergency."
The costs tied to illicit drugs in the Yukon are estimated at around $223 million in 2021 and could go as high as more than $245 million by 2026, according to the 2025 report's executive summary.
"Illicit markets in the Yukon operated by Organized Crime have overtaken the costs and harms associated to alcohol and tobacco," reads the summary.
"The predominant costs and harms observed involve substance use."
The report indicates opioids and illicit drugs generally overtook alcohol as the "most significant contributor to early deaths" in the territory.
While the number of "illegal drug toxicity deaths" has gone down, there has been a rise in emergency room visits due to overdoses.
Contact Dana Hatherly at dana.hatherly@yukon-news.com
