Mind of a Mountie - What makes a Country

Mind of a Mountie image created for The Border Pulse

RCMP S/Sgt. Bruce MacLean brings you inside the mind of a Mountie with a new series of columns exploring police work and how it’s done in our community. If you have a question you think needs answering in Mind of a Mountie, send it to admin@borderpulse.ca and we will be sure to share it with him.

With the referendum voting occurring I was approached on duty and asked what my opinion was. I responded as I usually do in these circumstances that I only have an opinion if the RCMP issues me one. Although a joke, there is some truth to the ideal that members of the RCMP have to remain impartial in our duties. We are still human, and have opinions, but I can only speak about my own views on this big, beautiful chunk of land we call home.

RCMP history is Canadian history. The march west by the Northwest Mounted Police both established the beginnings of what would become the RCMP and what would become our nation under the rule of law that we know today. Is our country perfect? No, but no country is. If you put all the worlds nations problems in a hat, would you be willing to blindly pick one or choose to stick with the ones we are perceived to have here?

In this job, we see the failures and successes in our system and are often pointed at as the cause or solution to either. My hand has been held by the victim of crime as they took their last breath, but that same hand has passed over a Canadian flag to a person crying with joy as they were sworn in as a new citizen.

I have seen innocent people be harmed by someone battling addictions and I have seen people save others lives with complete disregard for their own well being. I have heard the screams toward one another of two people who vowed to love each other, and I have heard the calming voices of families and mental health workers keeping strangers from harming themselves.

I have smelled the baked goods of a fundraiser to support charity, but also know the smells associated to the decrepit conditions of an abused child. As police, I feel we get to often see the worst of our nation, but every day we also get to see the best this country has to offer.

Each time, the best we have to offer is the same, it’s our people. It’s people helping one another. It’s people being welcoming and understanding. It’s people being protective of everything our country represents. Its people coast, to coast, to coast working together. To put it simply, the best thing about Canada is…
Canadians.

I am proudly part of Canada’s national police service and believe we as an organization are stronger together operating with a history and culture developed over 153 years. We have made mistakes and learned from them. We are a representative of our country and its people who from what I have seen are stronger together. When I see that maple leaf flag, I never think of individual provinces. I think of how proud every new
citizen is to be welcomed home. I think of that flag draped over the caskets of young Canadians who gave their lives to protect the ideals and people of this country. I think of all the bad I have seen in my career, and how it is outweighed exponentially by the countries most valuable asset…Canadians.