Commissioner of Canada's Fight Against Fentanyl Kevin Brosseau, right, with Denver, a CBSA narcotics detection dog, in Lansdowne, Ont., in February.

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 fen

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