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INUVIK
When Staff Sgt. Wayne Norris reflects on his career in the RCMP, he is nostalgic for the days of patrolling the wilderness by foot and dog team – an era he himself missed.

Staff Sgt. Wayne Norris recently left the RCMP after 26 years of service. Norris was born and raised in Inuvik, started his policing career here from 1986 to 1990, and then returned to Inuvik in 2011 to serve as detachment commander. - Laura Busch/NNSL photo

"Some days I feel like I was born 20 years too late. I would have loved to be a member in the '60s and '70s when you still had the dog teams and the patrols," he told Inuvik Drum. "I'd far rather be out visiting a camp or a trapper out on the trapline then sitting behind a desk working at a computer."

Norris served his last day of a 26-year career with the mounted police June 26, though he doesn't officially leave the force until October because he is on leave until then. He finished his career right where it began, at the Inuvik detachment.

Norris joined the force in his hometown in 1986 under the now-discontinued aboriginal special constable program. At the time, the program was suffering from what he called "mandate creep."

"The idea of the original special constable was that it was somebody who was from the community. He was utilized in large part as a guide, as someone who could translate, as someone who could look out for the members out in the land," said Norris.

The reality he found on the job, however, was that the special constables did the same work as other constables – with lower pay and the higher pressures of being a police officer in your home community.

The aboriginal special constables did not receive the classic red serge dress uniform. Instead they wore the brown serge.

"So again, you stuck out as different," he said.

In 1988, the commissioner of the day ended the program and Norris and his colleagues spent six weeks at the training academy in Regina before returning to the North as full constables.

"I think it was the appropriate timing and the appropriate thing to do," he said.

Back in Inuvik, Norris still faced the challenges that come along with policing one's home community.

"That was tough," he said. "You know everybody, you have a lot of friends, and you're related to a large part of the community. But I also had a lot of support."

In November 1990, Norris transferred to Aklavik where he served three and a half years.

He was then transferred to Yellowknife, where he said he got his first taste of city policing.

"I struggled with the fast pace, didn’t enjoy it as much – I hated it, really," said Norris. He said the experience made him realize his preference for community-based policing.

In 1997, he transferred to the Hay River detachment, where he received the second of four promotions in his time with the RCMP and became a senior constable.

His next move also came with a promotion, and Norris returned to Yellowknife as a corporal and took the job of program manager of aboriginal policing services at headquarters.

Aboriginal policing services is the department where, "we try to make sure that our service delivery is reflective of the needs of the aboriginal communities we're serving," said Norris.

During his tenure as program manager, Norris developed the new aboriginal community constable program, the mandate of which is similar to the original intention for aboriginal special constables.

The new program takes the community constables off frontline investigations.

"You're not strapped with dealing with actual complainants in your home community. Your primary mandate is crime prevention initiatives and community-based policing," he said.

In February 2011, Norris moved back to Inuvik to serve as the detachment commander and was promoted to his final rank of staff sergeant.

"This is definitely the highlight of my career, to finish up where I started," he said. "I'm happy with my successes and whatever I've been able to contribute in a small way."

Coming back also reminded Norris about the people and history that inspired him to become a Mountie in the first place, which makes the RCMP different in the North than in the rest of the country, especially in aboriginal communities.

In many communities, the RCMP to this day is the only federal department present, Norris said.

"We're representing Canada's interests, or national security if you'd like, or sovereignty," he said.

During his last day as an active officer, Norris said he had no regrets about his tenure.

"I got as good as I gave," he said. "I'm hanging up my spurs, so to speak."

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