This past holiday season saw Manitoba RCMP, Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO) and the Awasis Agency of Northern Manitoba team up to get toys and toques to children in northern Manitoba communities through the Toys for the North project.
Toys were delivered to three of the province’s northernmost communities – Brochet, Lac Brochet and Tadoule Lake – as well as to Bloodvein, Poplar River. Berens River, Little Grand Rapids, Portage la Prairie, Shoal Lake, Dauphin and Swan River.
Thompson resident Delphine Bodnarchuk added handmade extras to the Christmas deliveries, knitting hundreds of scarves, tuques and mitts to be distributed by the RCMP.
Poor weather delayed the shipping of toys to the isolated northern communities chosen to receive toys this year, but RCMP and volunteers worked together to ensure the gifts would be in children’s hands by Christmas.
RCMP D Division – which includes all of Manitoba – teamed up with various partners, including the Canadian Forces, the Canadian Toy Association, Thomson Terminals, Gardewine Transport and Perimeter Air to deliver Christmas cheer in the form of 1,000 toys for children throughout Manitoba.
The RCMP received the toys, which were shipped from Toronto on a Royal Canadian Air Force plane, in Winnipeg and distributed them throughout the province via its detachments and in cooperation with MKO and Perimeter Air. The RCMP participates in Toys for the North to help give back to the communities in which its members live and work.
“Being involved in Toys for the North is something I look forward to every year,” said Chief Supt. Scott Kolody, officer in charge of criminal operations for the RCMP in Manitoba. “To know that we are able to provide a child with a toy, with some holiday cheer, is a great feeling. So often we, as the police, are dealing with moments of crisis, so it is truly rewarding to be able to help put a smile on the face of a child.”
