Northern Ontario Indigenous leader George Couchie will soon be spending more time in the Sudbury area. He's been asked to join the local police service's spiritual team.
Couchie, a retired provincial police officer himself, plans on taking the title 'helper' as he looks to share his lived experience with others at the Greater Sudbury Police Service that might be struggling.
"For me, this is about healing within our communities," said Couchie.
"Recognizing that there are Indigenous officers within Sudbury Regional and other officers that might want to take advantage."
Couchie said he's been doing a lot of work with the police service in the last few years, teaching the history, culture and effects of residential schools.
He was welcomed into the fold Thursday afternoon with a pipe ceremony. Couchie was also provided with a ribbon shirt made especially for the city's police.
"Police work was nice but this is more my passion now," he said. "I love getting into the hospitals, into the schools and especially with the police work because I did have a connection as a young police officer."
Couchie's experience includes being at Ipperwash. He says sharing experiences like those and understanding that trauma will bring a new or different perspective to some officers and what they do.
"He's really got the ability to understand intergenerational training, understand holistic training and then he's able to relate to police officers and that's invaluable," said Sudbury police chief Paul Pedersen.
"This will be for any person in our organization that needs some spiritual help … I think we recognize the pressures and stressors on policing are huge and then you add the discovery of child graves and for our folk, our Indigenous folk, that hurts them to the core."
Couchie is a member of the Nipissing First Nation.
He will start working right away, be it either remotely or in-person as required.
