SaskatchewanForensic investigations that required laboratory testing of firearms seized by police in Saskatchewan used to take weeks or months to get results. The new lab, which has officially opened in its permanent location, shrinks the wait to hours or days.Increasing numbers of illegal guns entering Canada from the U.S. make the facility necessary, police sayLori Coolican · CBC News · Posted: Oct 20, 2025 5:01 PM EDT | Last Updated: 2 hours agoFirearms lab technician Andy at Kiesman with examples of seized guns at the Saskatchewan Ballistics Laboratory in Saskatoon on Oct. 20, 2025. (Lori Coolican/CBC)A task that formerly took months or longer for police in Saskatchewan to accomplish can now be done in a matter of hours or days at a permanent firearms ballistics lab.The $3.5 million lab, which started out in a temporary location at the Saskatoon city police headquarters last year, officially opened Monday with a tour for media and dignitaries.“When you talk about investments that will make a difference, this is one of those investments,” Prince Albert Police Chief Patrick Nogier said.“The lab will help us to hold people that choose to use guns in our community for intimidation, for threats, and for killing, to make sure the accountability component is at the highest level.”Illegal guns, many of them brought over the U.S. border into Canada, are increasingly common. Nogier said Prince Albert city police have taken 166 of them off the streets of his city since the start of this year.“We know that we have problems,” Nogier said. “We’ve heard the national rhetoric about guns and drugs crossing our south border and we know that we have to have a response to that. This lab will help in that response. When offenders come into communities, the turnaround will be quicker.”The lab features advanced technology, including a controlled testing range, a water tank and cotton box to capture bullets and casings safely, a comparison microscope and tools for detailed analysis, and an information management system for case data and results.Cutting edge technology helps investigators conduct forensic examination of bullets and firearms seized by police at the Saskatchewan Ballistics Laboratory in Saskatoon. (Lori Coolican/CBC)One of its most important capabilities is to allow technicians to restore serial numbers that have been altered or obliterated, Saskatchewan Firearms Office (SFO) Commissioner Robert Freberg said.“Right now we’re getting firearms that’ll get turned in to us and we’re turning them around in 24 hours, 48 hours, and I mean we’re actually being able to find out that the firearm used in a crime here in Saskatoon traces back to some other incidents, before that person’s even been released or put out on bail. So the prosecutors already know that that firearm … had a link to some other crime.”In the past, that person might have already served their sentence and been released before the lab test results came back showing that the gun police took from them had been used in a homicide, he said.“Currently I’m pretty proud to say that our technicians have been excelling in that. We’ve had 100 per cent success on raising the serial numbers on firearms that have been modified or obliterated, which is very useful in the tracing process. And again, tracing these firearms back in a lot of cases to the U.S.”In one recent case, a gun seized in Saskatoon turned out to have been used previously in a homicide in Atlanta, Georgia.All police forces in the province should be able to use the lab by the early months of 2026, Freberg said.ABOUT THE AUTHORLori Coolican has been a reporter and editor in Western Canada since 1996.
Provincial ballistics lab in Saskatoon already speeding gun investigations
