Statement from the Commanding Officer
The second report on Organized Crime in the Yukon: An Examination of Criminal Networks and associated Impact completed by the Criminal Intelligence Service British Columbia / Yukon in December 2024, provides a comprehensive and updated strategic analysis using classified and open-source data. It is clear that further insights from the 2022 report have emerged. 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.
The Yukon RCMP remain committed to action within the Yukon's Substance Use Health Emergency Strategy by providing effective law enforcement service and disruption effort of organized crime, but more importantly, protection of the health and safety of all Yukoners. To that end, initiatives such as "Car 867" which combine the efforts of police officers and nurses to deliver prevention strategies, harm reduction services, and referrals for treatment, aim to thwart the deepening entrenchment of organized crime into our communities. The Territorial Police Service Crime Reduction Unit works to further disrupt the behaviours and commodities used by organized crime in the Yukon. They have been highly successful with the largest cocaine seizure in the Yukon in March 2024, resulting in seizure of illegal firearms and multiple charges laid. The Yukon RCMP will continue to prevent and disrupt organized crime in the Yukon and in other areas of Canada. We work with other law enforcement agencies outside of the Yukon, and as one RCMP, with RCMP Federal Policing to support efforts at the transnational level.
The work of Criminal Intelligence Service British Columbia / Yukon is not only critical to the regional intelligence picture but also to the National view via the Criminal Intelligence Service Canada. As the Provincial / Territorial Advisory Council Chair, I look forward to seeing the future work of the Service to aid all Yukoners in understanding the impact of organized crime with a concerted effort to reduce and prevent the impact in our communities.
~ Chief Superintendent Lindsay Ellis, Commanding Officer Yukon RCMP
Statement from the Minister of Justice
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.
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. We are thankful to the work of Criminal Intelligence Service BC/Yukon and Yukon's M Division for all the work they do in helping achieve these goals.
~ Minister of Justice Tracy-Anne McPhee
Executive Summary
• The impact of illicit drugs in the Yukon cannot be understated given the volatility associated to (i) the impact of illicit drug overdose related deaths, (ii) Organized Crime who supply and operate the vast majority of the illicit market and (iii) the significant rising costs and harms of illicit drugs to the community specifically as healthcare responses reduce deaths and diffuse costs into other areas.
• Illicit markets in the Yukon operated by Organized Crime have overtaken the costs and harms associated to alcohol and tobacco; the predominant costs and harms observed involve substance use:
o In 2024, lost productivity – a measure of potential human capital for a person's working years – associated to opioid overdose deaths and the illicit drug market isestimated to have cost $58.9 million, or the equivalent of $1,273 per capita in the Yukon; this does not take into consideration health, criminal justice, or other costs
o In 2021, illegal drug toxicity deaths in the Yukon occurred at a rate of 53.5 /100,000 which exceeded the rate in British Columbia, the leading province / territory;illicit drugs and other controlled substances most commonly associated to these deaths included opioids, cocaine and benzodiazepines
o In 2024, this number has dropped to 37.8 / 100,000 however, the costs are more likely diffused into the other categories and not reduced significantly
o Illegal drug toxicity deaths in the Yukon have fallen since 2021, however there has been a linear rise in Emergency Department visits related to overdoses
o It is assessed that opioids, and illicit drugs in general, have overtaken alcohol as the most significant contributor to early deaths in the Yukon
• Cost associated to illicit drugs in the Yukon were estimated at $223 million in 2021, are expected to rise and could total over ~$245 million by 2026.
• The illicit drug market in the Yukon may be more expansive and lucrative than previously reported in 2022
• While alcohol and tobacco are the largest contributors simply by volume, the illicit products driven by Organized Crime account for more harm per capita
• Cocaine is the most prevalent illicit drug being consumed in the Yukon. It is estimated that 15 to 20 kilograms of cocaine is being trafficked into the Yukon per month
• Yukon drug supply lines come from British Columbia and Alberta Organized Crime
• From 2020 until 2024, CISBC/YT identified five Organized Crime Networks operating in the Yukon.
The report concludes that the Yukon's illicit drug market may be more expansive and lucrative than previously assessed with British Columbia and Alberta Organized Crime groups expanding their drug lines into the Yukon. The estimated amount of high purity cocaine being supplied into the Yukon and trafficked is 15 to 20 kilograms per month. That number grew by up to 75% compared to what was assessed in 2021, and that number could increase again based on the lucrative market the territory holds and the expansion of Organized Crime players from other provinces wanting to cash in on the market. 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. 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.