LITTLE CURRENT—It was an evening fraught with bittersweet moments, as tears were leavened with laughter as numerous accolades were interspersed with stories appropriate to the roast of a beloved comrade. Members of the Manitoulin OPP detachment were joined by their colleagues in the First Nations police forces, Victim Services (VCARS) volunteers, and amateur radio enthusiasts gathered at the Little Current Recreation Centre hall to honour Senior Constable Al Boyd retiring after 30 years on the force, most spent as the detachment’s community services officer.
In one of the most poignant presentations of the evening, retiring Senior Constable Boyd was gifted with an eagle feather and star blanket by UCCM Police Chief Rodney Nahwegahbow in recognition of his contributions to the force and its relationship with the OPP.
“This is the first time for me in presenting an eagle feather,” said Police Chief Nahwegahbow, who noted the feather speaks of seven Anishinaabe teachings of bravery, humility, honesty, wisdom, truth, respect and love. The feather has two sides of life and exhorts the holder to accept the truth of those two sides, both the light and the dark, the good and the bad, the right and the wrong. “To be given an eagle feather is an honour.”
In an occupation better known more for its stress and challenges than moments of levity, laughter was more the order of the day as more than 130 people filled the hall.
The evening’s festivities and presentations were emceed by Mr. Boyd’s oldest son Brian and both his wife Judy and their other son Shawn were at the table to witness the send-off of their husband and father.
Retired Detective Constable Denis Blake delivered the traditional toast to the queen, followed by the invocation by retired OPP Inspector (and former Manitoulin detachment commander) Lynn McCaig, before current detachment commander Staff Sergeant Kevin Webb provided a brief synopsis of Mr. Boyd’s prior life and subsequent service with the OPP.
Many on Manitoulin are very familiar with Mr. Boyd in his former role as community services officer, but few likely appreciate the vast and varied roles that he also played, both within the OPP and in the broader community as a whole.
Mr. Boyd’s service with the OPP actually extended much further back than the 35 years being celebrated that evening, noted Staff Sgt. Webb, as he joined the OPP Auxiliary before becoming a full-fledged police officer and coming to his first deployment at Little Current in 1981.
Later in the evening, the self-admitted “urban kid” born and raised in Montreal, was curious but unconcerned when he learned he would be starting his first job in the Sudbury District. “I didn’t read the fine print at the bottom that stated ‘at the Little Current detachment’,” he recalled. Getting out a road map, he scanned the communities around Sudbury for the town. “There was Val Caron and Chelmsford, Copper Cliff and Coniston,” he recalled. “Then I realized the map had two sides.” Turning the paper over, Constable Boyd and his then-fiancé Judy finally located the community on the shores of Manitoulin Island.
Travelling down Highway 6 from Espanola, Mr. Boyd recalled the twisting and turning roadway that led to the Island, arriving at each small community expecting to find Little Current, only to see a sign reading “Willisville, or Whitefish Falls, or Birch Island,” he said. “Then I finally arrived at a single-lane bridge. I mean, who has a single-laned bridge?”
He found the detachment, settled in, and began his new life, fully expecting to be on the Island for a “couple of years at the most.” Manitoulin quickly set the hook, however, and following a couple of years of long-distance romance, the couple married in 1983 and settled down to raise a family.
In 1985, Constable Boyd was sent into the challenging environment of the Kimberly-Clark strike, enduring one-way two hour drives into the site, where he spent his days in a “hot, difficult cauldron.” That service garnered him the first of many citations during his career.
In 1991 he began a long interaction with the First Nations police forces, helping with the establishment of what was to become the UCCM Tribal Police.
In 1995 his calm unflappable personality led him to became a crisis negotiator with the Northeast Region, rising to regional team leader responsible for training and deployment of resources. As the community services officer he developed a safety program that was the first of its kind in the North.
As a negotiator and community services officer, Constable Boyd was often called upon to provide debriefing, and it was there that his legendary storytelling skills came into play.
“I always wished that I was at the incident he was relating,” noted one speaker, “it was always so much more interesting.”
In 1997, while off-duty and plying his hobby as an amateur radio operator, Constable Boyd connected with a woman whose husband had a heart attack at a remote cabin. Unable to even operate the motor on the couple’s boat, the woman was in dire straights with only the man on the other end of the radio to help her. Talking the woman through the preliminaries of CPR and arranging the rescue, Constable Boyd spent six and a half hours on the radio that Thanksgiving Day. He was to receive 1997 Commissioner’s Citation for Lifesaving for his efforts on a day most people would be sitting down to a turkey dinner with their family.
In 1999 Constable Boyd established what was to be a long-standing and valued partnership between the OPP and Manitoulin Transport, creating more than 30,000 safety post cards.
Central Manitoulin Public School Principal Tracey Chapman was one of a number of educators at the dinner and she applauded the efforts of the community services officer in Island schools, drawing attention to the numerous hand-drawn thank you cards from students festooning the walls of the hall and podium.
Victims Services director Patricia Giroux spoke of Constable Boyd’s unswerving dedication to that organization that provides support to victims of crime and accident.
In a humorous anecdote later in the evening, Mr. Boyd spoke of his detachment commander of the times assignment of the file. “He said ‘there is some religious group called Vicars, find out what they want’,” recalled Mr. Boyd with a chuckle. But he soon discovered the immensely valuable services that organization provides to victims. “There are many services that are provided to the perpetrators of crimes,” he said, “but very few to the victims. There are so many limits on what we can provide as police officers, VCARS helps make us look good.”
Mr. Boyd served as a volunteer with Victims Services since its inception, currently remains on the board and was recently recognized as Volunteer of the Year with that organization.
Staff Sargeant Kevin Webb presented the retiring police officer with his retirement badge on behalf of the OPP, as officers surrender their warrant badges upon retirement, and Constable Rob Mellan presented Mr. Boyd and his wife Judy with watches on behalf of the Ontario Provincial Police Association.
It would be remiss not to include at least one of the many roast stories that emerged through the course of the evening. Mr. Blake, a long-time friend and colleague (and gentleman most noted by the media throughout his career for his serious demeanor and a deadpan professional delivery) kept the crowd in stitches while relating a story with a comedic timing that suggests he might well have missed his true calling.
It seems that shortly after his arrival on Manitoulin, Constable Boyd was summoned to attend his first post mortem. Upon arriving at the hospital, and still feeling his way around his new job, the new constable was instructed to suit up in gown, cap, gloves and mask. “Is this really necessary?” he queried. Told that it was standard practice he dutifully donned the garb as instructed. Any suspicions that might have arisen when he was asked to pose for a photograph with the doctor (actually an orderly in on the gag) were subverted when a figure wearing jeans and plaid shirt entered the room asking “who the hell are you?” With his back somewhat up the constable responded in kind. “I’m the chief pathologist,” was the response, followed immediately by “and what are you doing in my clothes?”
As community services officer Constable Boyd was the chief point of contact for the media, a position which played tremendous counterpoint to the compliance officer with whom he shared an office, a man who became one of his close personal friends, Detective Constable Denis Blake. “He would say ‘don’t tell anyone about any of this’,” recalled Mr. Boyd, to which he would reply “but the public has a right to know.”
There were a number of moments in the roost, but more so in the accolades and tributes, that the “unflappable” Mr. Boyd appear somewhat flapped, with misting eyes. Still, his training and experience served him well as he responded to the many friends and colleagues in the room, calling out each group and individuals by name and noting how much their presence meant to him.
