Commissioner of Canada's Fight Against Fentanyl Kevin Brosseau, right, with Denver, a CBSA narcotics detection dog, in Lansdowne, Ont., in February.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
Kevin Brosseau says he didn’t fully appreciate the scale and scope of the synthetic-opioid crisis before becoming Canada’s fentanyl czar.
The former senior Mountie spent more than two decades in the RCMP, including as deputy commissioner, but his last policing role in front-line communities ended in 2016.
“About a decade had passed, and I had really missed the toll that fentanyl and synthetic opioids had taken on many towns and cities across North America,” Mr. Brosseau said in an interview Wednesday at a conference held by the Association of Certified Anti-Money Laundering Specialists (ACAMS) in Toronto.
Mr. Brosseau was appointed fentanyl czar in February, 2025, just days after U.S. President Donald Trump signed an executive order stating that the flow of illicit drugs from Canada constituted an “unusual and extraordinary threat” that required expanded executive authority to impose tariffs. Former prime minister Justin Trudeau made the appointment to demonstrate to the United States that Canada is working hard to disrupt the flow of the deadly drug.
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In the eight months since he’s taken on the role, Mr. Brosseau has gained a deeper understanding of the sophistication and global nature of the criminal enterprises behind fentanyl trafficking, he said.
“But let me be clear, that’s not to say that Canada is the source of fentanyl to the United States,” Mr. Brosseau said in remarks to the ACAMS conference.
A June, 2025, report from the fentanyl czar calls the volumes of fentanyl entering the U.S. from Canada “negligible.”
In September, U.S. Customs and Border Protection seized about two ounces of the synthetic opioid at the Canada-U.S. border, Mr. Brosseau said. That’s about 0.02 per cent of the 600 pounds seized at the Mexican border, he noted.
“But as the Prime Minister and the President spoke about a couple months ago, any amount is too much,” Mr. Brosseau said.
“The movement of money related to illegal fentanyl is sophisticated, but at the same time, I see it as the Achilles’ heel for the bad actors, as it leaves a trace for us to follow and allows us to bring more resources to bear in this national fight.”
Since starting his new post, Mr. Brosseau has spoken to various experts – from law enforcement to public-health officials to mayors and First Nations leaders – to identify gaps in Canada’s current approach to fentanyl trafficking.
He’s assembled a team that includes representatives from the RCMP, Public Safety Canada and a financial-crime expert from the Financial Transactions and Reports Analysis Centre of Canada (FinTRAC) to help him understand the regulatory landscape.
He’s travelled to Mexico to discuss reducing the flow of drugs into Canada and has met with U.S. officials including at the Drug Enforcement Administration, or DEA.
And he’s tried to break down silos by bringing together chief medical officers with police chiefs to discuss how they can work together.
“Fentanyl is an incredible catalyst for action,” he told the conference of anti-money-laundering professionals on Wednesday. “It’s not only about fentanyl, but it’s a catalyst for action because everybody gets it. Parents get it, people who are involved in law get it.”
Ottawa is looking to tighten financial-crime laws ahead of an international review of Canada’s anti-money-laundering regime by the Financial Action Task Force. The intergovernmental body sets standards to combat money laundering and terrorist financing.
Mr. Brosseau spent more than two decades in the RCMP, including as deputy commissioner.Spencer Colby/The Canadian Press
The federal government has introduced new border-security legislation that would significantly increase anti-money-laundering penalties and restrict large cash transactions, among other measures.
Federal Finance Minister François-Philippe Champagne has also announced plans to create a new financial-crime agency that will focus on investigating sophisticated money-laundering and online-fraud schemes linked to organized crime.
Civil-rights groups have expressed concerns with some of the new border-security measures, arguing that they infringe on Canadians’ privacy.
Mr. Brosseau said it’s important for a legal regime to have public support behind it. But he doesn’t see the proposed legislation as being “egregious or way over the line from a civil-liberties perspective,” he said during the interview with The Globe and Mail.
For instance, Mr. Brosseau said he recently sat down with First Nations leaders, who are concerned about drugs entering their communities through the mail.
“This is about judicially authorized police action vis-à-vis Canada Post that doesn’t exist today,” he said.
“This is not about police being able to stick their hand down a post-office box and checking on letters and postcards.”