Meeting Highlights - June 20, 2024

Chair’s Report

Chair Wong provided an update to the Commission on his presentation to City Councils’ Public and Protective Services Committee. The presentation on May 28th included a 2024 1st Quarter Transition Update, the 2023 GPPS Transition Financials and the 2024 1st Quarter Transition Financials.  The Committee was pleased with the progress of the transition, and to hear that GPPS and the RCMP are collaborating to provide service in the community.  Chair Wong also informed the Commission that the Police Review Commission Transition Team will be coming to Grande Prairie to conduct an engagement session with them in July.

Grande Prairie Police Service Transition Update

GPPS Executive, sworn members, and staff joined the first experienced officer class at Northwestern Polytechnic for the service’s first Indigenous Awareness Training and blanket exercise.  All attendees appreciated the training and found it very insightful.  The Grande Prairie Police Transition Governance Committee’s Joint Management Team is finalizing documents with Public Safety Canada, the City of Grande Prairie, and the RCMP for the deployment of GPPS officers.  A comprehensive report outlining work to date on the transition was sent to the Government of Alberta as required by the transition grant.  The first experienced officer class that began on May 27th will conclude with five high calibre officers graduating on June 21st.  The newly formed Community Engagement Team was officially deployed and began their patrols on June 13th.

Pace and Caribou Child & Youth Centre

Jackie Aitken and Candace Fornier from Pace and the Caribou Child & Youth Centre (Caribou) provided a presentation on their programs and services.  Several programs and services are available to support individuals and families through abuse, violence, and trauma.  The Inter-Generational Healing program has seen incredible results and provided healing to several clients. Pace also offers Community Support Training Workshops through Northwestern Polytechnic to provide essential training for crisis response. The Caribou Child & Youth Centre provides child forensic interviews for youth and children impacted by crimes of abuse.  They were the 3rd child advocacy centre in Canada and the 2nd in Alberta.  In 2023, Caribou conducted 273 interviews of which close to half were City of Grande Prairie residents.  The program currently has one full-time sworn officer to support interviews but could use two sworn members as their current capacity does not allow them to respond to all referrals. The Commission is grateful for the many programs and services they provide to the community and surrounding areas and are supportive of their work in this critical work.