Manitoba RCMP Lay Twenty-One New Charges Against Eleven People in Project Derry, the Manitoba Integrated Law Enforcement Team Investigation Into What the Force Calls a Criminal Organization Trafficking Cocaine, Oxycodone, Fentanyl and Carfentanil Into Bunibonibee Cree Nation (October 6, 2026)

The Manitoba RCMP say twenty-one new charges have been laid against eleven people in Project Derry, a 12-month investigation the Manitoba Integrated Law Enforcement Team launched in June 2025 into what the force describes as a criminal organization that trafficked the shipment and distribution of drugs into Bunibonibee Cree Nation, including cocaine, oxycodone, fentanyl and carfentanil. None of the eleven is named in the release. The force says that in total thirty-five people have now been charged as part of Project Derry, resulting in more than seventy criminal charges being laid, and that ten people have been convicted as a result of the project. The release does not say how the twenty-one new charges are distributed among the eleven, does not give the wording of each count, and carries no file number and no court date.

Why This Sits on the Beat

Bunibonibee Cree Nation is outside the primary footprint of this beat, so the file needs a concrete qualifier. It has several, each stated in the release itself. The investigation carries a project name, Project Derry. It was launched by the Manitoba Integrated Law Enforcement Team, which the release describes as the unit that investigates serious and organized crime activities in the province — a named organized-crime unit, not a patrol or tactical unit. The release says nine individuals were arrested or re-arrested on charges of conspiracy to traffic firearms after officers seized fifteen firearms during the investigation, some with obliterated serial numbers, and that the firearms work was done with Oxford House RCMP and Manitoba First Nations Police Service officers, two separate forces named in the release. The force’s own description of the target as a criminal organization is the force’s wording and is not offered here as a qualifier.

What the Force Says the Organization Did

The release says the investigation uncovered a criminal organization that trafficked the shipment and distribution of drugs into the community, including cocaine, oxycodone, fentanyl and carfentanil. It says individuals working within the organization then distributed the drugs to local traffickers while handling collection and payments, enforcement and the storage and dissemination of weapons. These are the RCMP’s allegations; the release names none of the people it describes.

The release says RCMP announced last December that charges had been laid against 27 people in connection with Project Derry. The RCMP’s December 12, 2025 release put the figure at 51 charges against 27 suspects. The October release says eleven people were arrested or re-arrested over the last three months and charged with new offences, and gives the project total as 35 people charged. Twenty-seven plus eleven is thirty-eight, not thirty-five; the release does not say how many of the eleven were among the 27 charged in December, though it describes some of the eleven as re-arrested.

The Firearms Charges and the Fifteen Guns

The release says that from June 15 to 30, investigators worked with Oxford House RCMP and Manitoba First Nations Police Service officers at the Opaskwayak Cree Nation to arrest or re-arrest nine individuals on charges of conspiracy to traffic firearms. It says those charges were laid after officers seized fifteen firearms during their year-long investigation, including some with obliterated serial numbers. The release gives no year for the June dates. It also says the eleven people were arrested or re-arrested over the last three months, and it does not reconcile that statement with the June 15 to 30 dates.

The release does not say how many of the fifteen firearms carried obliterated serial numbers, does not describe the make, model or class of any of them, and does not name any of the nine. It does not say whether the nine are among the eleven people in the twenty-one new charges.

The Three Shootings of June 2025

The release says that on Sept. 15 (it gives no year), MILET officers arrested or re-arrested five individuals who were already incarcerated in connection with three separate shootings that targeted multiple residences on the Bunibonibee Cree Nation over a five-day period in June 2025. It then describes the three incidents.

On June 12, 2025, the release says, several people shot repeatedly into a residence, and a 50-year-old female was hit with a pellet from a shotgun but was not seriously injured. On June 13, 2025, several people shot repeatedly into the same residence on Bunibonibee First Nation, and one of the people charged was shot during this incident and transported to hospital in Winnipeg for treatment. On June 16, 2025, several people shot repeatedly into a second residence, and no one was believed to have been injured as a result of that incident.

Assistant Commissioner Scott McMurchy, the RCMP commanding officer in Manitoba, is quoted saying: “These incidents reflect a flagrant and reckless disregard for human life, with multiple homes fired upon in an attempt to threaten, intimidate and harm community members. We are fortunate no one was seriously hurt.”

Bunibonibee Cree Nation Chief Sheila North is quoted saying: “Our community members deserve to feel safe in their own surroundings so their families can thrive and live peacefully. I want to thank the members of our community for standing strong under stressful situations and I want to thank the many people who worked tirelessly to make our community safer, including our First Nations Safety Officers, the Manitoba Integrated Law Enforcement Team and local RCMP members.”

The Figures the Force Attaches to the Project

The release says that since the initial arrests last fall, RCMP have seen a 27 per cent decrease in reports of violent crime in the community, including a 55 per cent decrease in serious violent crimes, such as aggravated assaults, arsons and firearm-related offences. The release dates the comparison from the initial arrests last fall and gives no end date. It does not give the underlying counts behind either percentage.

All eleven newly charged people are presumed innocent until proven guilty, and none of the twenty-one new charges has been tested in court. Every allegation here is the RCMP’s, reproduced in the force’s own wording where the release provides it; where the release does not set out the wording of a count, that is said rather than filled in. The release describes the target as a criminal organization, and that is the only such description used here: no street gang, outlaw motorcycle club, crime family or cartel is named by the force and none is used. Bunibonibee Cree Nation is outside the primary footprint of this beat; the qualifiers are the named project, the Manitoba Integrated Law Enforcement Team as a named organized-crime unit, the conspiracy-to-traffic-firearms charges laid against nine individuals with fifteen firearms seized, and the participation of two named forces, Oxford House RCMP and the Manitoba First Nations Police Service. The release mentions no publication ban.