RCMP veteran wants to unite fellow Mounties for support
Renfrew – Act with integrity. Show respect. Demonstrate compassion. Take responsibility and serve with excellence.
These are the core values that guided Barry Thomas, a retired Staff-Sergeant who was a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) for 29 years, nine months and nine days, throughout his RCMP career as the main reason he joined the Ottawa Division of the RCMP Veterans’ Association.
Over the last few years he was the Membership/Recruiting Director for the Ottawa Division and he enjoyed tracking down recent retirees and introduce them to the association. He did not want them to feel alone during their transition from a member of Canada’s national police force to a private citizen. He knew what it was like to leave a national “family” of men and women who shared the same experiences.
Mr. Thomas left the RCMP in 1997 and spent the next nine years working in the City of Ottawa’s Emergency Management Division. He enjoyed living in Ottawa and spending time at his Norway Lake cottage while at the same time attending monthly Division meetings in Ottawa.
A short time ago he made the move to Renfrew and realized the nightly meetings in Ottawa were becoming less attended. Many members were now in their 70s and 80s, and some stopped attending. Health issues and night-time driving was becoming a challenge.
“Even after I moved to Renfrew I found it a challenge sometimes to drive to Ottawa and the traffic jams have only become worse and if you get backed up in traffic, it gets frustrating,” he told the Leader. “Although I was no longer in charge of recruitment, I decided to try and see how many RCMP veterans lived around the Ottawa Valley to see if I could get them out for a daytime meeting here in Renfrew.”
Calling All RCMP Veterans
New to the area, it was a tough mission for the veteran, but like all assignments he had over his career, he was determined to succeed.
He understood as a newcomer seeking information about his new community, there was one place to start. Naturally, he gravitated to the local Tim Hortons and it didn’t take him long to meet a friend of a friend of a former Mountie living in Renfrew or Eganville or Arnprior and other communities.
His list of four contacts soon grew to about 60 to 80 former members between Ottawa and the Ottawa Valley who expressed an interest in getting together. It took several phone calls, emails, texts and some old-fashioned face-to-face conversations to finally settle on a date and time at the Renfrew Legion for the first unofficial gathering of Ottawa Valley RCMP veterans and friends.
“All of us learned to depend on each other when we had some hard days and we were able to ask for help when needed because we all went through the same training,” Mr. Thomas said to a group of RCMP veterans gathered at the Renfrew Legion. “You make the transition to civilian life and after a while you realize you lose a bit of that comradery when you are not working side-by-side with a fellow officer. Unfortunately for some, the time comes when you want to reach out to someone you know would understand what you are going through…but they are not there.”
He told the group of 35 men and women it is a good thing to stay in touch and stay active. He said everyone needs help sometimes and whether it is requiring a drive to an appointment, or tending to everyday household chores or just talking with a fellow RCMP veteran over a cup of coffee, it is good to have an active association you can call on for support.
“We all get a little older and once in a while we may need a hand for the simplest task, and that is something everyone here recognizes,” he said.
Mr. Thomas said after speaking with several fellow veterans over the last few weeks, he had mixed feelings on how many would show up for a social meeting.
Unlike Ottawa that features the RCMP Headquarters, and hundreds of retired officers and employees, he understood the challenge to find veterans like him who left Ottawa for a quieter pace of life.
However, it was hard for him not to smile for two hours as he looked around the Legion’s lounge and recognized some old familiar faces, but it was the men and women he did not recognize who made him realize he may have started something special.
“I am an optimist…always have been,” he said. “As a young officer it was natural for a young rookie to want to go where the action was. I laugh when I think back to one of my first postings. I was posted to a rural village in Newfoundland with only 300 residents and only after I arrived did I find out that close to 150 lived in a retirement home. Nonetheless, I enjoyed my time there and found myself busy in so many ways I did not have time to feel disappointed.”
He feels the same way about the new social group he is trying to build. He knows it will never have the same numbers as Ottawa, but he is fine with that.
“Our national Veterans’ Association’s mandate is to help out and respond to the physical, social and overall well-being of all former RCMP and their families,” he said. “Just going around the room today and listening to old friends get caught up and meeting so many new faces is fantastic and worthwhile.”
One of Four Female Officers Out of 600
As several veterans began to make plans for a barbeque at the RCMP Long Island Centre or a golf tournament at the Highlands Golf Course, Susan Munn also had difficulty not smiling as she looked around the crowded room and said Mr. Thomas is starting a wonderful group that will have fun and reunite old friendships.
When the Prince Edward Island native made the decision to join the Mounties, she became a member of Canada’s national police force. She completed her training in Regina and was posted to Newfoundland as one of 600 officers assigned to the RCMP “B” Division.
“It was 1982 and I was one of four female officers serving in Newfoundland,” she said. “It could have been intimidating but I knew going in there were very few female officers, but that didn’t get in my way…I was proud to be a Mountie.
“I spent 30 years in the force and not only did I have the privilege of serving alongside some great men and women, but my colleagues were there when I needed them. I believe the support we can offer through our Veterans’ Association is something that is special and unique among our members.”
It was certainly an eye-opening experience for the young recruit who had never travelled west of Ottawa until she joined the Mounties. Ms. Munn looks back on her RCMP career as a positive experience. She said she gained invaluable experience in security protocols that made the transition to civilian life easier.
“Thirty years in the force taught me so much both personally and professionally,” she said. “Not long after I left the force in 2002 I became head of security for the Second Diamond Mine in the Northwest Territories and later I was head of security for Purolator Canada. That led to a great opportunity to become head of security for the Bank of Canada until I decided to set up my private security consulting business. Those doors would never have opened had I not made that career decision in 1982.”
Both Mr. Thomas and Ms. Munn admit they experienced some rough patches throughout their careers, but the good memories and friendships they made along the way far outweighed the bad ones.
“That is why I really want to see if our Veterans’ Association can become a presence here in the Ottawa Valley,” Mr. Thomas said. “We met during National Police Week and there is a new RCMP display at the museum in Pembroke. Last year was the 150th anniversary of the RCMP and I guess we picked the right time to hold this meeting and hopefully we can attract more of our veterans from around the area.”
For more information on the local RCMP association, contact Mr. Thomas at barry48@bell.net
Bruce McIntyre, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Eganville Leader
