SIOUX LOOKOUT – Provincial Constable Andrea Degagne has received the Award of Excellence in recognition of her accomplishment as an officer and a volunteer working hard to improve community safety and well-being.in Sioux Lookout.
“I’m more than honoured,” said Degagne. It’s unexpected. I feel like I’m just doing my job and the work that we’ve done in Sioux Lookout couldn’t have been done without all the community partners that we have. I’m flattered to be the face of the award but it’s all of the community partners and the support agencies that we work with that have done all of the leg work to make it possible for what we have done here.
As the community services officer, Degagne works tirelessly for some of the most vulnerable community members. She helps to get equitable and appropriate treatment for everyone which has had a significant positive impact in Sioux Lookout.
Degagne’s compassion for the most at-risk people is a top priority, as she meets with them often and advocates for them during each meeting with the Sioux Lookout Situation Table.
She sat on the Vulnerable Population COVID-19 planning Committee and the Cold Weather Committee, which worked to shelter homeless persons during the winter months.
Degagne played an instrumental role in creating the Crisis Response Unit in Sioux Lookout.
“So, in 2019, we’ve received a frontline policing grant that was funding through proceeds of crime,” Degagne said. “The proposal that was submitted was to create a crisis response team similar to the impact team from Southern Ontario. So, we integrated a social service provider and a mental health specialist into frontline policing to answer the call of service with the police.”
With only a single year of funding, Degagne took the reins and spearheaded the Crisis Response Nurse program, ensuring the program’s successful outcome.
“At that point in time we only had one year of funding left and we were able to locate a really qualified individual from Southern Ontario who came up to take part in this program. It really established a good baseline for how this program looks in Sioux Lookout specifically and what will work in the community here.”
In 2019, Degagne re-introduced and expanded the OPP KIDS program to Sioux Lookout schools.
“The OPP Kids program was developed by the Ontario Provincial Police and it’s for grade six students to teach them awareness of laws and what they need to know to be safe as they turn 12 and start having to navigate the justice system,” explained Degagne. “It’s a program that we’ve felt is very important for our kids to be part of and we’ve re-engaged with the schools to make sure that they are getting the education that they need. We have had eight classes participating in this program this past year and it was very well received.”
Another part of the OPP Kids program involves coordinating bicycle safety training for local students, heading up the annual Positive Ticketing" program, and conducting 'Paint a Cruiser' events for Rotary Club's annual Canada Day Ceremonies in the park and Firefly kids' camps.
“We not only offered it to our local schools here, which has been common. We’ve supported officers who wanted to run the program in our satellite communities. So Sioux Lookout Ontario Provincial Police have satellite communities in Pickle Lake, North Caribou Lake, Big Trout Lake, and Wapekeka First Nations where we are responsible for supporting the policing there and all of those communities are offered the program as well.”
Over the past two years, she has been a dedicated volunteer at the Sioux Lookout Gay-Straight Alliance.
“One of three adult mentors, we call ourselves are present to ensure that this student-driven group are able to meet the goals that they set for themselves. So, we help them by giving them a safe place to meet and direct meetings and make sure they have the resources available to them to get into action what they’ve put on paper. We are very lucky to have an outgoing group of youths who don’t always identify with the mainstream and they have been given an opportunity through the youth club GSA to take more a community leadership role where a lot of the time they are sidelined. They have got a lot of great ideas of how they want to help support other people in their community who might be facing similar or different challenges.”
Degagne also assists in coordinating events that are open to all community members including the GSA youth group's first annual Colour Run, Pride Parade and Picnic, Outdoor Teen Movie Night, as well as Halloween Boo at the Bay Haunted Trail.
