Features Editor’s Commentary Opinion
Another year comes to an end

It’s hard to believe that another year has passed, and soon the snow will be falling, the holiday season will be upon us and we’ll be ringing in 2023. This year has been busy for both Blue Line and the Canadian law enforcement community.

For many police organizations across Canada, the beginning of 2022 was focused on the “Freedom Convoy” in Ottawa and other similar protests in many provinces. Police worked in tandem with forces across the country to end the anti-government demonstrations that immobilized the nation’s capital and border crossings in January and February.

The public proceedings of the federal-provincial inquiry into the 2020 mass shooting in Nova Scotia, called the Mass Casualty Commission, ran for several months. The inquiry was tasked with determining the circumstances surrounding the April 2020 killings, including the police response (RCMP and municipal police forces), the role of intimate-partner violence, access to firearms and the killer’s prior interactions with the police and social services.

The year also saw officers on the front line wounded while serving and protecting their communities. In September, the tragic news of two officers, one of the Toronto Police Service and one of the York Regional Police Service, were killed in separate incidents within three days of each other. In October, in more tragic news was released. Two South Simcoe Police officers were killed when responding to a disturbance call in Innisfil, Ont. One week later, Cst. Shaelyn Yang of the RCMP was killed in a stabbing in Burnaby, B.C. Several members of the Victoria Police Department and the Saanich Police Department were also wounded in a gunfight outside a bank in B.C. in July. It’s times like these that we remember the sacrifice officers make every day, and the bravery of each member when they put on the uniform.

In 2022, First Nations police services took on more responsibility and territory, like the Tsuut’ina Police Nation Police Service in Alberta. Similarly, the Siksika Nation signed a memorandum of understanding with the province of Alberta with the intention to establish a new Indigenous police service. Blue Line had the pleasure of visiting the Akwesasne Mohawk Police Service in and meeting several members of the SAVE team. While I was there, I got to see the Akwesasne community, and learn about the successes and challenges of this First Nations police force. You can read about my full visit on page 10.

This year has been busy for both Blue Line and the Canadian law enforcement community.

For Blue Line, 2022 was marked by our brand new partnership with the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police on the very successful OACP & Blue Line Expo. We also hosted our second annual Blue Line Expo International virtual event in April, and the Security • Police • Fire Career Expo in May. We also had the opportunity to host two webinars for the law enforcement community: the first on illicit fentanyl in June, and the second on multi-agency interoperability and mass casualty events, in partnership with Fire Fighting in Canada, in September.

When putting this all together, Blue Line aimed to share the most pertinent and timely topics and information to law enforcement. I truly hope you enjoyed your 2022 editions of Blue Line and that they helped inform and foster your connection with the law enforcement community.

As always, if there is something you’ve encountered over the last few years that you think fellow officers could benefit and learn from, or a topic you think we should be talking about, please reach out to me at any time at bschroeder@annexbusienssmedia.com.

Until next time, happy reading, happy holidays and be well.