First Nations Mountie achieves his dream

Page 13

Constable Jamie Couillonneur, a member of the Canoe Lake First Nation, has overcome much in his life in order to achieved his dream of riding with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) musical ride.

Couillonneur has been an RCMP officer for five years and is on his first tour with the musical ride. His horse, Leo, is an eight-year-old gelding on his third year with the ride.

Shy and determined, Couillonneur is a gracious and passionate young man who, at the age of 12, set himself a goal of becoming an RCMP officer. He has achieved his dream and so much more. He is exactly where he wants to be in his life and feels that it is time to share his story.

Couillonneur wants to give something back to his people and is doing all that he can to reach out to Aboriginal children and youth, to tell them that they too can make their dreams come true. He's proof of it.

"My growing up was with my mother and father at first and it was really rough," Couillonneur explained. "They had their problems and my mother ended up leaving when I was about three. She took my little sister with her and went back up north, settling in Meadow Lake. I stayed with my dad. At six years old I decided that I would move back with my mom but from there it was just more problems that kept me surrounded by negative influences.

"I started drinking when I was 11. I didn't drink a whole lot, but by the time I was 16 I was a full-blown alcoholic. I was addicted to it. I didn't drink all the time but I did go to school drunk in the morning. I did a lot of binge drinking.

"When I think about my drinking back then I realize that I didn't really like the taste, but all my friends were doing it and it was the thing to do in a small town. I wanted to be cool with the kids that I hung out with.

"During my childhood I remember the Friday nights when my parents would come home with a 24 of beer each. With time I learned that this meant that by Sunday things would have come to blows. In terms of my home life, I had a negative upbringing with alcohol in the home and fighting. When you grow up with that and see that, that's all you think the world is about until you realize that you have the power to change things," he said.

"Since quitting drinking for good at the age of 16 in November of 1989, my life has changed for the positive."

Couillonneur was fortunate to have had many positive role models and influences in his life, although he credits one person in particular with setting an example for him.

"The biggest role model I have, and I've let her know this, is my mother, Josette. Through all her problems and all her dealings with abuse, she was able to raise me to be the person that I am today. Fortunately her residential school experience was fairly positive. She ended up graduating, left home on her own and became a nurse. She always pushed me to do well in school. She's my biggest role model. She's always supported me although she was tough on me."

At 15, realizing that his life was on a downward spiral, Couillonneur had the foresight to know that he had to make some changes. Although he was good at school the phrase "does not apply himself" was becoming all too familiar on his report cards.

"At 15, I left Meadow Lake barely passing Grade 9. I'd started out very well in Grade 9, but my marks had gone steadily down hill to where I got kicked out of a few classes. They gave me a final mark of 16-that was my average. I was always smart, it was just my attitude. I still have that Grade 9 report card. I've kept it and I always look back when I feel negative -that that's where I was in my life. I switched schools at 15 and went to the Native run residential school figuring that would help me and it did. It changed my life."

It wasn't as simple for Couillonneur as just changing schools however. He was devastated to learn that the Native school didn't want him because he was a bad influence on those around him. It never occurred to him that the chool, run by his own people, would reject him. This hit him really hard. With his mother's help, he managed to convince the school to accept him for one semester. "Another incentive that helped me to change my attitude was that if you do well each year in high school you don't have to write that year's final exams. I ended up getting fully recommended in Grade 11 and didn't have to write my finals. There was one teacher, a Native teacher who stopped me and told me, 'you're like so many kids that have the talent and are just putting it to waste.' I had a 55 average at midterm. He told me that I needed a mark of 70 to get recommended in his class and that I needed to be in the top third. I ended up getting recommended in his class. He pushed me a little bit but that was enough to get through to me."

Ironically, a series of negative encounters with a Native police officer became one of Couillonneur's most important lessons.

"I saw my first Native cop at 12. Until then I didn't know that there were any Aboriginal police officers. That's when I decided that I wanted to be an RCMP police officer. The funny thing is, that officer hounded me on a regular basis. He stopped me for everything and anything. It seemed to me that he hated me. I don't know why. Maybe because the kids that I hung around with were always in trouble and, even though I had a lousy attitude, I wasn't malicious, I didn't cause trouble. He kept looking to pin something on me but never could," he said.

"To this day I don't know why he seemed to have it in for me, being Native and all, but I can tell you that the way he treated me has affected me deeply. I made a solemn promise to myself to never treat another human being the way he treated me, that I would always treat others with respect. This lesson has served me well as a police officer because I always treat the people that I come into contact with with respect."

"It's been a long journey, but where I'm at now is where I want to be. I set this gal, my mum knows I did, this was it-the RCMP musical ride. I want to stay for my four full years tour with the ride then I'd like to go back to North Battlefield as a regular RCMP police officer."

Couillonneur considers himself very fortunate to have been selected for the musical ride. He is also extremely proud to be one of only two Aboriginal riders currently with the ride, and one of only four Aboriginal riders in the history of the ride.

Having been raised with horses, coupled with the history that First Nations' people have with horses, he feels that he was, "born into this". However, for Couillonneur there are some very personal reasons why he rides.

"Many of us who ride in the ride have personal reasons for riding or ride for people who we hold dear to us. I don't speak with my fellow officers about who I ride for but I ride for two people in particular.

"I ride for my father, Victor who passed away in 1994. He was from the Cowessess reserve and he was a cowboy his whole life. He broke and trained horses for people. My love of horses comes from him. I was born into it."

He also rides for his childhood friend Ernie Iron, who he met during a summer at Canoe Lake.

"We were in Grade 10 together and he and I had the same dream of becoming RCMP officers, we were going to apply together. A year later though he was fatally injured in a car accident just outside of Canoe Lake . . . so we didn't get into the force together, but I ride for him," he said.

"And then I ride for everyone else that's Native, especially our young people who have dreams and think that they are impossible to reach."