Message from the PAO President

Dear members,

Welcome to the second issue of the Police Association of Ontario’s rebranded magazine, The Dispatch. The first issue received a lot of positive feedback, and we hope that you, our sworn and civilian members, also enjoy this Winter 2023 issue. Please read it. Please share it. These are important stories, and they are your stories.

This has been an incredibly difficult few months for our policing community, with the senseless murders of Constable Andrew Hong, South Simcoe Constables Devon Northrup and Morgan Russell, and RCMP Constable Shaelyn Yang, as well as the tragic death of Constable Gillespie in a head-on collision with an impaired driver on his way to work. There’s also the more recent death of Constable Drew Nadeau in a motor vehicle collision on his way home from work.

Faced with these awful events, it is a testament to our policing family how deeply connected we are to one another. Numerous members reached out immediately to offer assistance. Several members attended South Simcoe on the evening of October 11 to offer support to President Leah Thomas, as well as other members of their executive and those directly involved in the incident. It was an honour to attend the visitation of both officers and offer condolences to their families on behalf of the entire PAO. The PAO also chartered a plane to Vancouver, with almost 100 police personnel from across the province flying to British Columbia to honour Constable Yang. We will continue to keep each of these fallen officers, their families and their colleagues in our thoughts – our Heroes in Life, Not Death.

The PAO will continue to work with all levels of government and with our partners at the Canadian Police Association to advocate for meaningful bail reform and end the catch-andrelease system that we’re working with right now. We all understand the inherent dangers of our job, but we need to do what we can to improve the safety of our police personnel when they go to work. Please read the article on page 28 about the officer deaths and the toll they’ve taken on our members.

Our focus on Lobby Day this year was the staffing crisis in policing. Our members met with their local MPPs at Queen’s Park and shared with them the dire situations in staffing at their services. While we seem to have government support, our work is not done. We are working in conjunction with the OACP to find solutions to the staffing and recruitment crisis affecting our members, both sworn and civilian. Please read the article on page 34 about the provincial staffing crisis.

Finally, throughout a busy summer and fall, we held six very successful Police Hero Award ceremonies across the province, in Thunder Bay, Owen Sound, Chatham-Kent, Lindsay, Guelph and Timmins. Winners and finalists were presented their awards in front of family, friends, colleagues, dignitaries and local media. Some events were standing-room only. The ceremonies generated a lot of local media coverage and positive press, which is exactly what we need right now. It was important to see our police heroes be rewarded for their fine work.

I would also like to introduce the PAO’s new Executive Director, Tyler Callaghan, to our members. He joined us at the end of August and has already proven to be an incredible asset to the PAO team.

I look forward to continuing to represent our members and create a space that allows for our membership to continue to grow and prosper. Have a very happy holidays and stay safe.

In unity,

Mark Baxter

The Police Hero Awards Ceremony honouring Owen Sound’s Cory Fernando.