New Anishinabek Police Service constable looks forward to serving her community of Wasauksing
By Rick Garrick
WASAUKSING FIRST NATION — Anishinabek Police Service (APS) Constable Sheema Osipenko is looking forward to serving her community of Wasauksing and neighbouring communities Shawanaga and Magnetawan for many years to come after taking up her duties in February.
“So far, I’m really excited — I’m on day seven of starting back in my community,” Osipenko says, noting that she grew up in Wasauksing. “I’ve been here for about 24 years so I’m just excited to get to see people and hopefully build more of that trust. A lot of people already know me so I’m excited to just kind of build on that and to continue that.”
Osipenko says she was initially interested in policing during high school but decided to choose a different career path at the time before renewing her interest again in 2017.
“It’s been a long go just to get the certifications and mentally prepare, get physically fit and do all the testing and then to apply and [do] all the training,” Osipenko says, noting that APS has a physical component to its testing. “There are some strength and cardio components to that and I actually hired a personal trainer and she did specific circuits for me in order to build strength. A lot of it was upper body — females tend to have a little bit more of a challenge with the upper body components so that was something I really needed to focus on.”
Osipenko says the 13-week training at the Ontario Police College in Aylmer was challenging.
“Fortunately even through COVID-19, I was able to come home on weekends,” Osipenko says. “It was tough to be away. My son is two-years-old now so it was tough to leave my family.”
Osipenko says her goal in policing is to work with young children and high school students in the community.
“I really want people to feel comfortable and safe with me,” Osipenko says. “A lot of people, especially in Wasauksing because that’s where I’m from, know who I am already so I just want to keep on building on that and just making sure they see me and know that I’m here. I really want to get involved with the youth. I just want them to get comfortable with police and maybe I can change somebody’s life in that kind of direction, especially young females.”
APS Acting Police Chief Marc Lesage says APS currently hires about six new police officers per year. APS serves 16 First Nations with about 65 police officers, about 20-25 civilian staff, and about five contract employees.
“We use the constable selection system through the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police for our hiring so our hiring process is similar to that of municipal departments or the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police),” Lesage says. “We target obviously folks that are from our communities. [Osipenko] was a person who went through our application process, was interviewed, passed background, psychology, physical tests. She made it through with flying colours and I expect really bright things from her.”
Lesage says one of the advantages of having a police officer serve in their own community is many people already know who they are.
“So when people call 911 in our communities or they need to call the police, they’re going to know there are five or six officers working in a cluster,” Lesage says. “They know who is going to show up at the door.”
Osipenko, who also serves as a trustee officer with M’Tigo Min Trust with Wasauksing, previously worked with ServiceOntario at the Parry Sound Land Registry Office.