PEI·NewAfter years of planning and building, RCMP on Prince Edward Island have said hello to their new Queens District Detachment in Cornwall and good-bye to the former location on Maypoint Road in Charlottetown they had occupied for decades. Maypoint location ‘was very cramped; it was busting at the seams in terms of space’Delaney Kelly · CBC News · Posted: Aug 25, 2025 5:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 30 minutes agoThe Prince Edward Island RCMP inaugurated their new Queens County detachment on Friday with a grand opening ceremony in Cornwall, P.E.I. (Jane Robertson/CBC)After years of planning and building, RCMP on Prince Edward Island have said hello to their new Queens District Detachment in Cornwall and good-bye to the former location on Maypoint Road in Charlottetown they had occupied for decades. Cpl. Gavin Moore, media relations officer for the RCMP in the province, said the new building has several features that will be crucial to the future of policing on the Island. “It’s very exciting. Our officers are excited to be in a new, modern structure that has all the equipment and tools that they need to serve the community here well, now and into the future,” Moore said. The new base has a footprint that’s roughly five times larger than the Maypoint location, with room on the property to expand.Officers hold the flags of Prince Edward Island and Canada as well as the RCMP Corps Ensign at the official opening ceremony in Cornwall. (Jane Robertson/CBC)The final price tag is expected to come in around $25 million due to some big-ticket items, which include: A forensic lab, Interview rooms, Housing for K9 units, Increased storage for everything from evidence to equipment, and Five holding cells for people who have just been arrested, something the Maypoint detachment did not have. Moore said these are the kind of features that will allow RCMP personnel to do their job more efficiently. Cpl. Gavin Moore, the spokesperson for the P.E.I. RCMP, said the new detachment ‘means a lot’ to the officers serving Queens County. (Jane Robertson/CBC)”It means a lot to the officers who are on the road helping in the communities every day. It means a lot to them because some of those frustrations are removed. They have the ability to work safer,” Moore said.The change of location is also significant, he said. It will let the officers be more immersed in Queens County life, allowing for greater police presence. Maypoint ‘was not a functional detachment’P.E.I. RCMP Chief Superintendent Kevin Lewis said the new building was not just wanted but desperately needed. ‘The previous detachment was not a functional detachment, and the members were not able to do their work effectively there,’ said Chief Superintendent Kevin Lewis. (Jane Robertson/CBC)”The Maypoint location was very cramped; it was busting at the seams in terms of space. And, of course, it just wasn’t as modern, didn’t have the space to process prisoners, didn’t have cell blocks, and wasn’t as functional as a place like this is now,” he said Friday.”The previous detachment was not a functional detachment, and the members were not able to do their work effectively there.”Paul Steton, a former P.E.I. RCMP commander, was in the crowd attending the grand opening. He said the ceremony filled him with pride. The Queens County RCMP detachment is located at Mercedes Drive and Main Street in the town just west of the provincial capital, Charlottetown. (Jane Robertson/CBC)”It’s a big moment for me, as a retired officer. I served 32 years in the RCMP and I’m really connected to it.”Watching how things are growing, how things are moving… we had a good office over there but we outgrew it. So this is a natural thing that should happen.” ABOUT THE AUTHORDelaney Kelly is a journalist with CBC P.E.I. who studied journalism at Concordia University. She was previously a reporter at Iori:wase in Kahnawake Mohawk Territory. With files from Cody Mackay
RCMP put on their dress reds to open state-of-the-art detachment in Cornwall, P.E.I.
