REGINA -- Since 1877, 63 police and peace officers have died while on the job in Saskatchewan.
They were honoured on Sunday during a memorial at the Saskatchewan Legislative Building.
“We always want to remember the ultimate sacrifice officers have given to our communities,” Sgt. Casey Ward with the Regina Police Service said.
The flags on top of the Legislative Building were moved to half-mast for the memorial, which has happened on the last Sunday in September for 17 years.
“It’s that one day every year where we can come together, multiple different agencies in the province, and commemorate and respect the honour and sacrifice that they made,” RPS Chief Evan Bray said.
This year’s memorial was scaled back due to COVID-19 with the public invited to tune in virtually. The traditional parade of officers was cancelled due to the limits on large gatherings.
Ward said despite the restrictions, they wanted to make sure they still found a way to hold the memorial.
“In policing, the interesting part is that everyday we show up, everything does always change on us. It’s part of the profession, you just adapt, overcome and make things work,” Ward said.
The Saskatchewan Police Memorial “Ride to Remember” is another way officers pay tribute to their fallen colleagues. This year’s ride was broken up into two one-day rides instead of the annual three-day ride from Saskatoon to Regina.
Bray said this event is a good reminder for officers about the dangers faced on the job each day, but also how far policing has come.
“This morning, we talked about our two officers that died in 1933 and 1935 and all the advancements, changes and even policy changes that we’ve made as a police service and progress that policing has made to ensure that those types of deaths don’t happen,” he said.
The flags at the Regina and Saskatoon Police headquarters were also lowered to half-mast on Sunday as part of the memorial.
