Steps are being taken to ensure police treat everyone in Thunder Bay, regardless of their background, equally.
It was the first four day session for the Thunder Bay Police Service’s (TBPS) Gawendum Gakina Awaya (To Protect Everyone and Everything) Reconciliation Training program and workshops. The first workshop involved over twenty officers, with hopes of teaching them about Indigenous culture while bringing the communities together.
TBPS Community Inclusion Team Coordinator Jan Ritchie was one of the masterminds behind building the training session and what it entails.
(STAFF PHOTO – Vasilios Bellos)
“The first training that happened this past weekend was very impactful, very powerful, and very spiritual,” explained Ritchie. “There’s a lot of love, good teachings, and a lot of learning from each other. There was a lot of consultations of how to develop a program that is going to be appropriate, that is going to consist of culture, that is going to bring the community together.”
There are plans to train more officers in January, with another session in February. The goal is that every officer in the TBPS will eventually experience the workshop.
In developing the program, Police Chief Sylvie Hauth said they considered other similar trainings happening around the world to ensure the best delivery of the workshop. While this was crucial, Chief Hauth explained that it still needed to focus on what is most important in Thunder Bay.
“We worked hard, so when we looked at creating this over the last two years, we reached out,” stated Hauth. “We looked across Canada, we looked overseas as well, we even looked into Australia, kind of different approaches. The OPP has similar training, but we wanted to ensure it was realistic and hit home in terms of what our realities are here in Thunder Bay and the northwest.”
Along with this, Police Chief Hauth believes other services may approach Thunder Bay for guidance on building similar programs and workshops.
(STAFF PHOTO – Vasilios Bellos)
Constable Kade Campella had the opportunity to be involved in the first four day session, and explains what the experience has been like for him and his colleagues.
“In my own position, I think it’s going to help me going forward, kind of giving me a new lens to look through when I’m dealing with different populations in the community as I have been over the past couple years,” explained Campella. “I think it will give me a new appreciation for those same populations and some of the conversations I’ve had before, and looking back in hindsight, I’m thinking about different questions I could have asked and different comments I could have made. That might have opened doors to new conversations that I want to keep in mind going forward.”
In the future, new members of the Thunder Bay Police Service will also be included in this training, and will incorporated into future sessions.
WATCH: Thunder Bay Police Service Officers participating in Gawendum Gakina Awaya (To Protect Everyone and Everything) Reconciliation Training program and workshop
