More than a year later, the RCMP is still renewing multimillion-dollar contracts for border helicopters

At the time, Trump cited his concerns about fentanyl trafficking and illegal migration across the Canada-U.S. border, which Canadian authorities denied, when he threatened to devastate Canada’s economy with 25 per cent tariffs on Canadian imports to the United States . After seeing details of that border plan, Trump gave Canada temporary reprieve.

After initially chartering two helicopters for around 10 weeks at a cost of $5.3 million, the RCMP added a third Black Hawk last April and has extended the contracts at least four times, according to documents tabled in Parliament.

The RCMP said the current contracts run until at least May 31.

In parliamentary committee testimony, RCMP officials have indicated interest in long-term leases for the helicopters, which they’ve indicated would give them more control over their operation.

The force sees the UH-60A Black Hawk helicopters, built by American manufacturer Sikorsky for the U.S. military more than 40 years ago, as strong deterrents to criminal activity and a quick way to move large resources quickly.

But with no long-term plan in place, critics question if these helicopters are the most effective tool to protect Canada’s border.

“I think they’re more symbolic than truly useful,” said Wesley Wark, a national security and intelligence expert at the Centre for International Governance Innovation.

“I understand the impulse to get started on border security enhancements by acquiring these very visible platforms. It’s a message of reassurance to Canadians and to Americans but I just don’t see, to be honest, long-term value of continuing the program.”

Public Safety Minister Gary Anandasangaree defended the Black Hawks as one part of a new “comprehensive response” to border security concerns.

Canada’s $1.3-billion plan also included dozens of drones, more officers at the border, new mobile surveillance systems and detection technology, legislative tweaks and increased co-ordination with American police. The RCMP owns nine other smaller helicopters.

The Canadian government says immigration removals are up, illegal border crossings are down, and police are prioritizing cracking down on fentanyl trafficking. Trump has since praised Canada’s increased attention to the border, including during Prime Minister Mark Carney’s first visit to the White House last May.

“We had to respond to some urgent needs, and procuring and purchasing takes quite a bit of time. It really was a broader response to concerns expressed by the U.S. president,” Anandasangaree told the Star last week, highlighting the procurement challenges the Canadian government faced as it rushed to show its muscle on the border. 

Asked about the long-term plan for the Black Hawks, Anandasangaree said it’s a “conversation that needs to be had,” but deferred to the RCMP.

“When we try to do this within a two- to four-week timeline, you need the package in place, right? You just can’t train pilots or train RCMP personnel to be pilots or hire, on-board someone, have the right equipment, have the right training, all in a turn of a budget. We were able to do that in this case because of the current contract,” he said.

“But the mid- and longer-term pieces will evolve, and the needs evolve and the needs change. And as that happens, I think we will evaluate if there’s other more efficient ways of doing this.”

The RCMP did not answer the Star’s questions about the future of the choppers, but a spokesperson said the three Black Hawks had undertaken a total of 857 patrols, with 4,800 flight hours covering 650,000 kilometres along the Canada-U.S. border.

That has helped the RCMP in surveilling remote terrain, “supporting time-sensitive operations where ground access is limited,” Robin Percival wrote.

“In March 2026, a group of individuals were reported travelling northbound across an icy lake and initial ground interception was not possible. A Black Hawk helicopter was deployed to conduct aerial patrols over the area and the subjects were subsequently arrested by ground units.”

Between Jan. 17, 2025 and March 31, “Black Hawk patrols reported 144 flight observations, including instances of suspicious activity, cross-border tracks, and illegal crossings. The Black Hawks responded to 24 calls for assistance from land teams by inserting members or equipment, establishing containment zones, and providing surveillance,” Percival added.

“There were 53 border events reported by RCMP ground teams that flagged the involvement of the Black Hawks during this period. Thirteen of these events resulted in the arrest of subjects by RCMP, with a total of 70 individuals arrested.”

It’s in remote areas, mountainous terrains and across bodies of water that helicopters can be a useful tool, said former Canada Border Services Agency officer and Mount Royal University criminologist Kelly Sundberg.

But the three Black Hawks are only a “temporary stopgap” that can’t entirely cover nearly 9,000 kilometres of border, Sundberg said. To do that, he said, the RCMP would need several more.

“They’re effective as far as keeping the American administration at bay, I suppose, but not effective enough to actually achieve border security on a national level,” Sundberg told the Star. “It’s time to get serious.”

Brian Sauvé, president of the National Police Federation, said he’s concerned the helicopters are operated by contracted civilian pilots instead of Mounties, which he hopes would change if the RCMP decided to keep them long-term.

But on top of a procurement process “filled with bureaucracy” and “long delays,” which he’s said has resulted in aging equipment and higher inflationary costs, Sikorsky is believed to have a three-year wait-list for new Black Hawks, Sauvé said.

There are only four used UH-60A Black Hawk helicopters in Canada, according to the Canadian Civil Aircraft Register. Canada’s leading helicopter lobby group has pushed Ottawa to go for domestically made options instead, even though the RCMP says the Black Hawks are uniquely suited for the job.

The RCMP earmarked an estimated $57.7 million in the 2025-26 fiscal year for the operation of the Black Hawks, according to the documents tabled in the House of Commons in response to a query from Conservative MP Larry Brock.

Wark believes the RCMP should get rid of the helicopters and double-down on the use of drones and sensor systems that could provide 24/7 surveillance capacity at a “much less expensive” operating cost, and help “distinguish between, you know, a wandering cow or deer or dog or horse and people.”

“Using Black Hawk helicopters for surveillance of the border is a very expensive and very inefficient way to try to maintain some kind of situational awareness about what’s going on at the border,” he said.

But former RCMP intelligence manager Patrick Lennox says chartering the Black Hawks as a response to Trump’s tariff threat has to be assessed “through the lens of what we were dealing with at the time.”

He says criticism of their cost has to be balanced against the economic impact of Trump’s tariff threat.

“You’re calculating costs in terms of how many thousands of jobs are we gonna lose here if we don’t get this right,” said Lennox, who left the RCMP last year.

“That’s the way the force is looking. I know that for a fact.”