Aboriginal Youth get taste of police work

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About two-dozen young Aboriginal men and women have completed the RCMP Aboriginal Youth Training Program this year, and are now posted throughout Canada as temporary members of Canada's national police force.

Initiated in 1993 by the RCMP and the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, the program was modeled on the Canadian Armed Forces' Bold Eagle program.

The RCMP Aboriginal Youth Training Program is intended to provide participants with mental and physical preparation to complete an introduction to basic cadet training and familiarize them with their detachment.

The program is also designed to build and enhance self-esteem by integrating Aboriginal culture into the course training; to encourage Aboriginal youth to pursue post-secondary education geared towards policing, justice services or the general work force; to enhance and encourage Aboriginal student participation in the continuing education process; and to provide positive role models for communities.

For the young Aboriginal men and women from Aboriginal communities across Canada, qualifying for the project was the easiest step in the 17-week program that runs from May through August.

Three weeks of introductory cadet training at the Regina Depot offers a compressed and intense baptism into the world of police work, covering everything from basic drills, deportment, and physical training to law, handling prisoners and scenario enactment.

"It was really comprehensive and intense. They packed a lot into those three weeks," said Phillip Plessis, a twenty-something Cree who hails from Attiwapiskat First Nation in Ontario.

Plessis, a third-year University of Manitoba student, is now designated a Special Constable with the RCMP and is currently posted at Winnipeg's D-Division working in the Aboriginal Policing Branch.

In the four years the program has been in existence, more than 200 Aboriginal youth have been through the program with a number continuing on with the RCMP to become full-members of the force after completing the regular five-month training program.

The program provides an opportunity for participants to experience the challenges of a policing career while building leadership, problem solving and other skills.

Participants receive instruction in Applied Police Sciences, which includes the criminal justice system, powers of arrest, survival, forensic identification and an introduction to community justice forums. Firearms instruction, and police defence tactics are also an integral part of the program's three-week training component.

Particular attention is given to providing youth with access to Aboriginal Elders for spiritual needs during the candidates' training and a special cultural weekend was completed on the nearby Piapot First Nation.

Now that Plessis is part of the program he says his future career options are even more diverse.

"No matter what I end up doing (he's presently leaning towards pursuing a law degree or journalism, which he was practicing prior to his participation in the program) this experience will be invaluable."