The Moose Jaw Police Service (MJPS) held its annual awards ceremony Wednesday afternoon at the Performing Arts Theatre adjacent to the Moose Jaw Public Library.

The awards recognize individuals of the community and the police service who have worked to make Moose Jaw a better place to live. In addition, the awards recognize people for their contribution to community safety and promotes positive behavior and employee and community engagement opportunities for the police service.

"This is one of the best days of the year for me," exclaimed Police Chief Rick Bourassa. "It's so good to be able to recognize people both within our police service and in our community that have done some pretty amazing things to help keep people safe, to help keep people healthy, to help keep our community strong. We always look forward to recognizing people for the things they do because we're all in this together. We all are vested in having a safe, harmonious, and inclusive community and so many people just contribute without even thinking about it and just do all of these amazing things that not only keep people healthy, keep people safe but also save lives and we couldn't be more proud of the people in our city who step up all the time."

He talked about how hard it is to single out certain individuals.

"It is so hard because there are so many good deeds that happen all the time. One of the challenges, of course, us being aware of it because our people are out doing things and sometimes we never hear about some of those things. Then of the ones we're aware of, it's really challenging. We try to recognize as many people as we can, but we could be up here for hours. Every year we evaluate, and we bring forward the ones that are most deserving in the current climate and we'll continue to do that. It's always a challenge because so many people do so many good things."

This year's ceremony was the first one held since the end of the pandemic. Several awards were given out to recognize individuals for their efforts during that difficult time.

Below is a list of award winners from the ceremony:

The Teamwork Award - presented for outstanding cooperation, leadership and teamwork to maintain community safety

S/Sgt. Scheske, Sgt. Watt, Cst Kristy, Cst. Torgunrud, Cst. Denet, Cst. Amiot, Cst. Abbott, Cst. Braun, Cst. Zoerb, Cst. Sills, Cst. Mohle (S/Sgt Elder, S/Sgt. Pilsworth and Cst. Izaaks absent)

Chief’s Commendation - presented to police service personnel and community members whose exceptional actions resolved a critical situation

Robert Hill, Lindsay Hill & Sgt. Watt, and Cst. Chamberlain (Robert and Lindsay were represented by Burleigh and Shirley Hill) (Cst. Lea absent)
Allan Tarrant
Owen Nichols, Marshal Ward, Sgt. Boechler, Cst. Chamberlain and Cst. Biniaris
Cst. Thunberg and Sgt. Boechler (Cst. Lea and Cst. Forbes absent)

Community Building Award - presented for significant contribution to improving quality of life in Moose Jaw

Tanya Morland and Kirsten Clark

Community Safety - presented for outstanding contribution to community safety and quality of life in Moose Jaw

Heather Segall
Commissioner Mary Lee Booth
Darlene Geib
Ryan Boughen – Prairie South School Division & Ward Strueby – Holy Trinity Catholic School Division
Travis Phillapation and Nimone Campbell (absent)