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The news of the mass killings in Nova Scotia on the weekend hit Regina resident Paul Dawson doubly hard.
As a retired Mountie, Dawson was saddened by the terrible loss of life — including that of RCMP Const. Heidi Stevenson.
Secondly, Dawson was based at the Colchester County detachment in Nova Scotia from 1998 until 2005 and knows the area around Portapique, N.S., very well.
“It is still very jarring when you hear about something that happened in an area where you lived for eight years and you’ve travelled those highways probably hundreds of times on night shifts and day shifts,” said Dawson, whose 24-year RCMP career ended with his retirement in September of 2016.
“It is kind of jarring and then as the news starts coming out, it just gets worse and worse. You really feel for the (RCMP) members who are there working, for the community that’s there and also for the whole province and really the whole country. It’s a terrible, terrible event.”
The Mounties stationed at Dawson’s former detachment responded to a weapons call Saturday night in Portapique, one of the communities in an area Dawson describes as “very idyllic.”
By the time officers caught up with Gabriel Wortman on Sunday, numerous Nova Scotia residents were dead. As of Monday morning, the death toll was at 19 — not including the suspect.
“As an RCMP officer — and this is regardless of where you are across the country — you quickly realize that there are dangerous people in all areas of the country and there are serious incidents that happen,” Dawson said when asked if he ever could have imagined such an incident happening in Portapique.
“A lot of times you don’t even hear about it, but when you’re working on a day-to-day basis, you hear about those things and you know that there are dangerous people and violent people everywhere.
“Probably the last thing you want to think is, ‘This could never happen to me in my community,’ no matter where you are.”
Dawson reached out to former colleagues with whom he used to work in that area of the country. Like him, they were trying to process the news — especially the loss of an RCMP officer.
Dawson said he’s feeling for the members of Stevenson’s detachment as well as officers from neighbouring detachments who likely would have known her.
“Sadly, I’ve had that experience with people who have died in the line of duty throughout my service,” said Dawson, whose career included a stint as the media relations officer at “F” Division in Regina.
“I would say pretty much every officer in the country knows someone or has some sort of connection with someone who has died in the line of duty, whether they knew them or worked with them or knew someone who knew them or was a troopmate with them. (The RCMP) is very much a small family in many senses.”
Dawson noted he’s thinking of police officers everywhere in the wake of Stevenson’s death and thanked them for doing what he called “probably the most thankless job that’s out there” to help communities across Canada.
That said, he admitted incidents like the one that occurred in Nova Scotia have changed his perspective on the job.
“I’ve had the misfortune of having to attend some regimental funerals for members who have died in the line of duty and it can be a very tough experience …,” Dawson said. “Any officer who is working in any area across the country can tell you about incidents they had that worked out OK in the end but could just as easily not have worked out as well.
“It’s going to be very sad for the members of that detachment, the entire province, the extended policing family and everybody. Everybody in Canada is looking at the photo of this young officer and seeing it. It’s tragic.”
— With files from 650 CKOM’s Harrison Brooks
