Students with the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council, Police Chief Darcy Fleury, Cst. Patrick Shoppoff, Executive Director NNEC Norma Kejick, NNEC Director of Education - (CJ Goater/Acadia Broadcasting)
Thunder Bay’s police service has announced a partnership with the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council (NNEC).
They are launching a new student safety initiative which will have a police officer set up at the council.
The officer’s title at the school will be Student Safety Specialist.
Cst. Patrick Shoppoff was selected to serve in the role and has been working with the council since August.
Shoppoff has spent the past three years as a School Resource Officer for the city’s north-side schools.
“It’s a really busy role, but I find there’s a great return when you look around and you see students smiling and feeling safe, and comfortable talking to you is very rewarding,” said Shoppoff.
NNEC is a First Nations non-profit educational organization.
They deliver secondary and post-secondary values-based education to advance First Nations self-government, self-determination, and economic self-sufficiency, according to their website.
In Thunder Bay, the council delivers education programs and services for First Nations people through Dennis Franklin Cromarty High School (DFC), while supporting students who opted for provincial schools.
In addition to educational programming, they also run after-school activities.
“Since DFC has opened, there’s always been a Thunder Bay police liaison officer working in the school, but I think this is more of a real partnership where Cst. Shoppoff is actually right in the school when we need him,” explained Executive Director of the Northern Nishnawbe Education Council, Norma Kejick. “If we need to call on him just as an added layer of safety and I think the biggest thing too is letting the students know their rights.”
“Students have rights when they’re dealing with police officers and I think just letting the students know that so that they’re not afraid of the police. I think that’s the biggest thing is trusting the police and letting them know that they always can go to the police if they need anything, that it’s not, just when they’re in trouble with the law.”
This program is the second of its kind for the Thunder Bay Police Service.
The new initiative was announced at the new NECC location at 725 Hewitson Street, which opened after undergoing renovations over the summer.
