2018 Recipients

Corporal Belliveau has been a dedicated and valued member of the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force since 2004. Eugene is very engaged with the community and is currently the Crime Prevention Officer. Eugene has been a DARE officer for 10 years, coached High School football for 20 years and boys and girls hockey for 10 years. As a Crime Prevention officer, Eugene organized or participated in countless community events. Eugene is loved by the community and trusted by his peers. Eugene is modest and would never take credit for everything that he has done for our police force, or for the communities we serve.

Chipman Freshmart is a supporter of youth in the Chipman area, operating a weekly 50/50 draw with proceeds going to various community non-profit organizations such as the Youth Centre, Skating Club, Grand Lake Ringette and Grand Lake Minor Hockey. Two years ago the Fresh Mart offered the 50/50 draw to the ChipmanYouth Centre which is when it became known as the Gold Rush Draw. Funds from the draw help the Youth Centre provide high quality programming to young people in the area. The Fresh Mart also hosts community events, often providing the supplies for such events. Funds raised during these events help the operation of a summer program for youth ages 5 - 12 and the Centre’s Village Volunteer Team for youth ages 12 - 18. Support of these programs is vital to the ongoing success of the Centre, which gives youth an opportunity to engage in prosocial activities and behaviours.

Rick has been volunteering with the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force since 2015. He is the vice president of the local Crime Stoppers Chapter and a director of fleet management at Stress Con. Auxiliary Cst Cleveland attends many police and community events: the Annual Bike Rodeo, The Tanya Shand Milk and Cookie Run, ATV Safety, the Hot Pursuit BBQ Challenge, Fill the truck food drives and many more. In 2017, Rick volunteered more than 400 hours with the police, he does not wait to be asked but simply attends and pitches in. Rick has a passion and genuine desire to help others.

Constable Curren is usually the first in line to help. She has three years’ experience as a police officer but already understands the value of proactive community engagement.  She has organised a police-sponsored Christmas family, two food drives at Sobeys and Superstore and arrives off duty ready to help. She has assisted with most Community events including the Tanya Shand run and the Hot Pursuit BBQ Challenge fund raisers. Cst Curren took on the responsibility of being the High School resource officer on top of all her regular patrol duties. 

Corporal Daley has over ten years of policing experience. Despite assuming full patrol duties, including acting as a specialist in the Identification unit, she maintains many crime prevention and public relations tasks. Krystal insists in offering DARE to two schools, which amounts to over 60 presentations to grade five classes. She also assists with the WITS Anti-bullying program, the Tanya Shand Domestic Violence Awareness run and organises Bubble soccer to fundraise for charity. Cpl Daley founded the Friday Community BBQ events and continues to ensure that the BBQ is staffed and supplied

Inspector Mary Henderson has been a police officer with the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force for over 19 years. It is often said that Mary knows everyone and everyone knows Mary. Mary, and her best friend and daughter Allie, personally attend over 80 % of all public relations, on or off shift. Mary was a DARE officer, played on the charity police hockey team and many more crime prevention projects. Mary also initiated Cop Cards for KRPF and photographed over thirty officers for the collector cards. Mary has been an exemplary officer and an enthusiastic supporter of the community that she grew up in and is so proud of.

The KV Oasis Youth Centre is a safe place for local youth. It is open 6 days a week, with amazing staff members. The KV Oasis Youth Centre is a non-profit organization which opened its doors in November of 2016 in Quispamsis.  Oasis strives to give youth the resources they need to develop and learn new skills, engage with their peers, express themselves creatively, and access medical attention. As mental health is the biggest issue facing young Canadians today Oasis believes in providing preventative resources to help youth avoid serious problems in the future. Yennah Hurley and her staff are changing lives.

The Chipman/Minto Lions have been providing financial support for local youth initiatives for decades. Every year, the Chipman/Minto Lions hold a two-day Dippity Dog sale in the village, and donate half of the proceeds to the Chipman Youth Centre. Not only do the Lions provide much needed funds for the Centre, they also sponsor the Lions Speak Out Competition providing youth an opportunity to improve their oratorical skills. The Lions provided sponsorship for the winners to attend regional and provincial competitions. The local Lions also provide support for Portage Atlantic—a youth drug addiction centre.

MADD Fredericton works tirelessly to promote safe and sober driving, to amend legislation around impaired driving, and to show that impaired driving is 100% preventable. MADD Fredericton has reached thousands with their message—youth and adults alike. Of Note, MADD Fredericton in partnership with the Fredericton Police Force completed a sobriety Road Block in January. Volunteers remained at the Road Block for 3 hours in -37 degree weather. Together, MADD and FPF stopped and checked over 2000 vehicles, and provided all information on impaired driving.

For the last 2 years Barb Magee and her team, Bonnie McCumber and Darlene McDonald at Desjardins Insurance, have become huge supporters of ending the silence on Domestic Violence in the Kennebecasis Valley. In 2016, Barb contacted Cst. Kelley McIntyre looking for a way to become involved in the Tanya Shand Memorial Milk and Cookie Run. Immediately, Barb and her team began collecting items for women’s shelters, then Barb allowed KV Domestic Violence Outreach to utilize the basement of her business as a safe place for women to receive free counselling. In the last 2 years, Barb has contributed over $4000 to the Memorial fund, and her team helped register over 350 runners and stuffed bags for all of them. In 2018, the Tanya Shand Memorial Fund was able to assist 4 families in leaving abuse and restarting their lives, in large part due to the generosity of Barb Magee and her team.

Auxiliary Constable Geoff Mcabe is the KRPF police mascot, PARTNER. Geoff has donated over 180 volunteer hours on patrol just this year, and over 150 hours at police promotional events as PARTNER. Geoff puts smiles on thousands of kid’s faces while attending Children’s Wish Foundation Tea Parties, the WITS anti Bully Program, ATV safety seminars, Halloween safety programs, Fill the truck food bank events, and dragon boat races for breast cancer cures. Geoff is enthusiastic and understands the importance of how a mascot can bridge gaps between community and police.

Cpl. Jason Murray of the Kennebecasis Regional Police Force, and Cst. Trinda McAlduff of the Saint John Police Force partnered with the Tanya Shand Memorial Fund for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, and provided two four-hour sessions of Self Defense for Women in the greater Saint John area. 48 women were trained at Victory Jiu-Jitsu in Rothesay, New Brunswick, where both Trinda and Jason train. Jason and Trinda do not take center stage at community events, but are both a huge reason that programs, such as this one, occur. They are both role models in their communities and are well respected.

Chris Correia of Correia and Collins Law Firm, in partnership with the Corporal Eugene Belliveau of Kennebecasis Regional Police Force and Cst. Cory Jamieson of Saint John Police Force initiated the Put A Lid on It program. Chris donated 20 helmets to KRPF and 50 to SJPF. The initiative allowed Corporal Belliveau and Cst. Jamieson to offer a helmet instead of a ticket for not wearing a helmet. Officers took this opportunity to share the importance of safety and accident prevention. With the success of Put A Lid On It, Chris and Corporal Belliveau continued on to engage KV High School students in an education and awareness campaign targeting distracted driving—which will result in 2 students receiving funding for driving instruction courses. Chris is a concerned leader and proactive player in the safety of KV and Saint John.

The Mental Health Docket is a voluntary offender-based program for adults who have been charged with a criminal offence that is connected to their mental illness and are competent to participate in the criminal justice system. The program is founded on partnerships between the Department of Justice and Public Safety (Court services and community services), the Department of Health, NB Office of the attorney General—Public Prosecution Services, NB Legal Aid Services Commission, and Horizon Health Network (Addictions and Mental Health Services—Saint John). The Hon. Andrew Palmer, Steven Veniot, Maria Powell, Rebekah Logan, Krista Martin, Mary Ann Campbell, Megan McLean, Judy Lenihan, Vinod Joshi, Clare Manzer, Shawn Parlee, Nora Gallagher, Don Higgins, Kristen Murphy and Paul Nason have made this program possible through their professionalism, commitment and dedication.

Bernard Sisk was a founding members of the Chipman Youth Centre, serving as the first president in 1998, and 20 years later, is Vice President. Bernie moved to Chipman in 1974 as a teacher and volunteer soccer coach for close to 40 years. Bernie still mentors youth involved in Oratorical Competitions. Over the last 20 years, Bernie has worked with the Board to ensure an after school program was available 5-days a week, began a youth volunteer program, the Respect program, dance, piano, and summer days camp. Bernie has been volunteering with the Chipman New Brunswick Day Road Race since 1989, volunteers for the local Community Care Christmas Telethon, and is a member of the Celtic Men’s Choir who sing to support local causes. A former student of Bernie’s said it best, “Mr. Sisk has helped many kids to see what they couldn’t see in themselves.”

In April 2017, the Coordinated Community Response pilot project began in 2 regions in New Brunswick. The CCR project is comprised of multi-agency teams representing various provincial departments, police agencies, and not-for-profit organizations. Teams are based on equal partnership and collaborate to reduce risk and increase safety for victims and children living in high risk and high danger intimate partner violence situations. Beyond their core responsibilities, The Fredericton team: Lauren Stoddard, Meghann Wetmore, and Karen Ash, and the Edmundston/Grand Falls team: Mélanie St-Onge and Karine Michaud have wholly embraced the project’s vision and provided unwavering support for the initiative. The team has demonstrated professionalism, and dedication which has ensured the smooth functioning of the pilot and offered invaluable feedback resulting in contributions to the program and policy design. Their hard work is an excellent example of action resulting in creating safer communities for the most vulnerable among us.

The Village of Chipman has been supporting the Chipman Youth Centre for the last decade. The village provides the youth centre with a yearly $4000 grant for operational costs, has supported their numerous grant and funding applications, purchased the centre sports equipment to allow for free programming to the village, and allows the use of their properties free of charge. The Mayor and Council remain very supportive in the crime prevention initiatives. The Council also supports the Youth Centre by hiring a Summer Recreation Co-ordinator for the Youth Centre. The Village is very proactive in helping to reduce youth crime in the village by ensuring that youth have ample opportunities for engagement.

WE Believe Saint John was founded out of a friendship between Cst. Cory Jamieson of the Saint John Police Force, and Dan Foote, Teacher at Hampton Middle School. Both Cory and Dan have  interests in making Saint John a stronger community and youth empowerment and community engagement. As a result of Cory and Dan’s tremendous efforts, Saint John hosted New Brunswick’s first ever WE day event. 7000 students from Anglophone South descended upon Saint John on May 17^th to hear from presenters on motivational inspiration, personal challenges, and how to overcome them. Students learned of opportunities to engage in their community, personal growth, healthy lifestyles and bullying. Cory and Dan hosted an enormous event with great success, and as such, this event has been deemed the most impactful event the Saint John Police Force has ever been a part of.

The Muriel McQueen Fergusson Center was established in 1985, at the beginning the focus was to raise money to help victims of family violence by providing shelters, programs and education to the community. Today there are seven centers across Canada.

The Muriel McQueen Fergusson Center for Family Violence Research at the university of New Brunswick and former executive director Dr. Carmen Gill have been active-based research partners with the Fredericton Police Force since 2005, helping the Force to better understand, prevent, intervene, and respond to domestic and intimate partner violence. Along with other stakeholders, the FPF, Dr. Gill and the MMFC jointly launched the police training manual IPV: Helping Police to Better Intervene.

The early work and partnership later developed into ongoing research with Dr. Gill, UNB observatory on Family Violence, Fredericton Police Force and the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police to develop the National Framework for Police Pro-action to Intimate Partner Violence. This National Framework focuses on understanding the root cause of IPV to support prevention, education, intervention and collaborative action to this serious social and criminal issue.

The National Framework was adopted via resolution by the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and work is currently in the formative evaluation phase. Without the long term partnership, leadership and support of Dr. Gill, this ground-breaking work on the prevention of intimate partner violence would not have been possible. Dr. Carmen Gill was nominated by Chief Leanne Fitch for the profound role that Dr. Gill has played in supporting the Fredericton Police Force in their endeavours to better serve the policing community.

The Chipman Youth Centre and the Volunteer Board of Directors is celebrating 20 years of outstanding Crime Prevention work. The Chipman Youth Centre is open 5-days a week, 12 months of the year for children and youth aged 5-18 in Chipman. The Board works diligently fundraising, and making sure the children and youth of Chipman have opportunities to become involved in the community and are awarded the opportunity of a better life, at little-or no-cost to families. The programs they offer are made possible by the board who look for sponsors, grants and fundraise. The board has faced many hardships and close-calls, but always puts the needs of Chipman’s young people first and works diligently to accommodate all needs, opportunities, challenges and situations with an open mind and a smile. There are so many programs run at the Centre, it would take us all afternoon to list them, but we would like to bring your attention to just a few.

One of the most successful programs that has spread province-wide, the Respect Program, was introduced by Rose Stewart, one of the Centre’s first coordinators. This program teaches values and morals to youth. The program still runs at the Centre today. The Respect Program was inducted into the CPANB Hall of Fame in 2006.

Another program offered at the Centre, The LIFT Program, is sponsored by the United Church of Canada, and pays for 10 children to attend the Centre every Friday afternoon during the school year at no cost for an opportunity of fun, sharing and socialization. The LIFT Program also includes an intergenerational luncheon once a month, a week of Chipman Youth Centre Day Camp for March Break, and a week of Day Camp at Camp Wegesegum. This is in an opportunity for vulnerable youth to receive the support they need.

The Adopt A Grandparent Program helps bridge the gap between local youth and older adults. This program has travelled across Canada and is used by many Canadian Youth Centres and First Nations communities. The program is offered at no cost to all children and youth.

This summer, the Village Summer Sports Program offered a variety of sports and activities for individuals aged 2 and up. This program recorded 1608 hours of physical activity in the village. Events included floor hockey, soccer, softball, Rug Rat Rec Time, Go-Go Gymnastics, basketball and volleyballs camps, bowling, and pickleball. Specifically, one young girl has been attending Go-Go Gymnastics for 5 years, has excelled at the sport and began gymnastics in Fredericton this September. A mother and her son, after attending the pickleball clinic now play weekly with a group of individuals in Minto who also play. They also have a volunteer component to the Summer Camp, where young people volunteer for various events around the village and surrounding area. This summer, over 1119 hours were volunteered by the children. This is a very unique program that has repeat attendees every year. A recognition night is held at the end of August where parents come and each child is presented with a certificate of appreciation.

The volunteer board works diligently and consistently, and have become creative by thinking outside the box. The original president, Bernard Sisk, still sits on the board, and the current president, Kelly Bishop, has served for over a decade. Carol Doherty, the past mayor of Chipman, continues to lobby for the support of the Chipman Youth Centre, Catherine Campbell, treasurer, is a 2^nd generation member, Shaun Ward, village counsellor liaison, Robert Manuel, local grocery store owner, Pam Price is a newer member, but was involved in the youth centre as a youth, and both her girls are currently involved in the youth centre, JoAnne Chase, a local farmer and humanitarian, and Susan Welton, Local business woman As is easy to see, all board members are incredibly bust people, but somehow find time, and pleasure, in supporting young people. We would like to point out that Faith Kennedy and Kelly Bishop have both previously been recognized with the Hall of Fame Award for the work they have done in the community over the years.

Chief Leanne Fitch has spent most of her policing career committed to improving professionalism, compassion, ethics and crime prevention in the field of policing. Chief Fitch has over 32 years in policing, and has a very diverse career including patrols, street crime, as a Detective in the Family services Section of Criminal Investigation, a Training Officer, the Media Liaison, Platoon Supervisor and Special Munitions Leader for the Crowd Management Team. Chief Fitch is a graduate of the Ontario Police College, holds a Bachelor and Master’s degree from the University of New Brunswick, and has completed specialized police related courses at the Atlantic Police Academy, Canadian Police College and Dalhousie University.

Chief Fitch actively demonstrates a willingness to teach others and acted as an instructor at St. Thomas University from 1998 to 2004 in the Department of Criminology, displaying her passion for the field of policing. Chief Leanne Fitch was appointed Chief for the Fredericton Police Force in June of 2013, and has received many accolades over the years, too many to list but we would be remiss if we did not mention a few outstanding achievements. Chief Fitch was named officer of the year by Atlantic Women in Law Enforcement and the International Association for Women Police. She earned the Police Officers’ Exemplary Service medal from the Government of Canada, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee medal, and the Member of the Order of Merit for the Police Force from the Governor General of Canada.

Chief Fitch volunteers her time on many boards and is a member of a variety of not-for-profit organizations such as, the Canadian Association of Chiefs of Police and sits on their Crime Prevention and Community Safety and Wellbeing committees, International Association of Chiefs of Police, Atlantic Women in Law Enforcement as an executive, New Brunswick Association of Chiefs of Police as treasurer,  Aide de Camp for three Lieutenant Governors of New Brunswick, and Vice President and President of the Fredericton Therapeutic Riding Association. Chief Fitch is also a member of the Department of Justice and Public Safety’s Roundtable on Crime and Public Safety, and the New Brunswick Domestic Violence Death Review committee.

Chief Fitch was directly involved in developing the National Framework on Collaborative Police Action on Intimate Partner Violence, with research led by Dr. Carmen Gill. Chief Fitch was a driving force in the creation of the Youth at Risk Coordinator, Cultural Diversity Advisory Committee, IPV Coordinator position, FPF LGBTQ Committee, Mental Health Coordinator, and Trauma Informed Practices Coordinator with in FPF. She also supports community volunteers within the Force including the Auxiliary Program, the Victim Witness Volunteers and the creation of a Seniors Advisory Committee. Chief Fitch supports the FPF Trauma dog initiative utilized by Victim Witness volunteers, has driven a greater focus on IPV response in the community and actively supports research in the community such as supporting St. Thomas University Criminology classes exploring policing, youth and mental health, the Fredericton Sexual Assault Centre in reviewing files investigated by FPF to ensure best practices are being followed, and a review of IPV files with Dr. Carmen Gill. Chief Leanne Fitch was nominated by her colleague of 23 years at the Fredericton Police Force, Inspector Kim Quartermain, who emphasizes that Chief Fitch’s community involvement and commitment to reducing the harm and violence in the community is worthy of outstanding recognition.