Baker guards honoured
Quick action prevents tragedy

Darrell Greer
Northern News Services

Baker Lake (Mar 29/00) - A tragedy was prevented by the quick action of two jail guards in Baker Lake recently.

The guards, Elizabeth Haqpi and Venessa Kalist, were presented with commendations for their actions earlier this month.

Haqpi was awarded a detachment commander's plaque, while Kalist was presented with a commanding officer's letter of appreciation.

Baker Lake RCMP Cpl. Tim Walton, who presented the awards, says the quick action of the guards prevented two inmates from doing harm to themselves.

"The guards noticed something was amiss and their quick action prevented any physical harm from resulting from the inmates' actions," says Walton.

Haqpi says the impact of receiving the award still hasn't hit her yet.

"I can't explain the feeling I had when they gave me the award," says Haqpi.

"I was a little overwhelmed because I wasn't expecting them to give me any kind of an award. I haven't sorted out all my feelings yet.

"To me, what I did was just part of my duties."

Haqpi has been a guard in Baker for about two years now and enjoys her duties, especially when the inmates are released.

"That's the part I really like. When everyone leaves, it's nice and quiet. The time I like to work most is when I start after midnight.

"I don't even mind working on the weekends. I'm going to stick with being a guard for awhile. I enjoy it."

Haqpi recently attended the RCMP Training Academy in Regina, Sask., to help design updated guard training.

She was one of only two guards chosen from the North to attend the session, which had guards present from across Canada.

Haqpi says she enjoyed the Regina experience.

"The RCMP only had a list for guards in the south and the duties they perform, so they wanted to upgrade that for the North so they would have an accurate account of guards all across Canada.

"I was really kind of amazed to listen to each guard in every different community and how they all have such different duties.

"It's really different when you're talking about guards in the North and those in the south."