Kivalliq (Aug 16/06) - Sylvia Sharp is hoping a few more Nunavummiut soon will be walking in her boots.

The recruitment officer for Nunavut's "V" Division of the RCMP will make rounds in the Kivalliq next month, including her hometown of Rankin Inlet.

She's looking for at least 10 people from across Nunavut who are solid candidates to become cops.

It's a dream Sharp began to follow when she was 12. Living in B.C. at the time, she won an essay contest with the prize being lunch with a Mountie. She remembers the police officer taking her to Mama's Cafe in Sooke, where she peppered him with questions while she ate her burger.

Then they went for a ride in the squad car and had the lights and sirens blaring momentarily. Afterwards, she rode home as fast as she could on her bike to tell her parents all about it, she recalled.

In October 2002, she fulfilled her ambition. She was among the graduates of an all Inuit troop from the RCMP depot in Regina, having endured six demanding months of training.

Her family attended the graduation ceremony, including her two daughters, whom she hadn't seen all the while.

"My dad and my mom, they were the proudest people in the world because they knew I wanted this since I was a kid," she said. "It was just the most amazing feeling in the world."

For her first four months on the job, Const. Sharp, now 33, was actually stationed back in Rankin, where she'd spent the earliest years of her childhood. She was transferred to Iqaluit in March 2003.

Of course, the profession isn't entirely glamorous. What she finds most challenging is dealing with people who are capable of making healthier choices, but repeatedly fail to do so.

"I will never give up on them," she said. "I just keep reminding them, 'This is what you can do.'"

The upside is that the job has many facets: from patrols in vehicles to talking to students in schools, working with computers to visiting distant communities.

As a recruitment officer, Sharp wants and needs others to experience those perks.

The Mounties' 2005 annual report identifies recruiting as "the most critical issue facing the RCMP, not only in Nunavut, but nationally."

Sharp said retirements and promotions will create pressure to keep front-line positions filled in Nunavut's 25 detachments.

The police are looking for Canadian citizens of "good character" with a high school diploma or equivalent education and an unrestricted drivers licence.

She suggested that it's important for Northerners to be served by Northerners.

"We know the land, we know the culture and anyone who's lived up North knows the challenges we face."