Police bike ride honours fallen officers

A cross-Canada bicycle ride honouring police officers who have died in the line of duty made a stop in Brandon Sept. 11.

The stop gave local police and community representatives an opportunity to welcome riders and help connect Manitoba to a national memorial.

The relay-style ride, organized to build connections between police services and provinces ahead of the Canadian Peace and Police Officers Memorial, began Sept. 11 in Moosomin, Sask. and travelled east through Manitoba, stopping in Brandon before continuing to Winnipeg and Kenora, Ont.

The ride took a new turn this year, York Regional Police Det.-Const. Chris Meuleman, who has participated in Ontario’s Ride to Remember for about 15 years, told the Sun last week.

“This is the first year we’ve tried to connect other provinces in a ride going across Canada,” Meuleman said.

The Ontario Ride to Remember has been held since 2000, while similar rides have developed in other provinces, including British Columbia, New Brunswick and Saskatchewan.

Meuleman said the idea was to bring those efforts together and create a connection between communities across the country and the national memorial in Ottawa, recognizing that not everyone is able to attend the ceremony.

“It’s a chance to connect provinces and services across Canada in a relay-style bike ride effort, leading up to the Canadian Peace and Police Officers Memorial,” he said.

“The Manitoba leg involved riders travelling long distances each day. The ride into Brandon covered about 150 kilometres, followed by roughly 200 kilometres to Winnipeg and another 200 kilometres into Kenora.”

While hills, wind and distance presented physical challenges, Meuleman said the larger challenge was co-ordinating officers and police services from different parts of the country.

His team included officers from York Regional Police, Hamilton police and the Ontario Provincial Police, along with two Manitoba RCMP officers and a Winnipeg police officer.

At each Manitoba stop, an RCMP officer read the story of a police officer from the area who had died in the line of duty.

For Meuleman, those stories were among the most meaningful parts of the journey.

“It always brings to mind names of people, officers that I know that have fallen in the line of duty,” he said.

He said the ride also gave participants an opportunity to learn about officers whose stories they might otherwise never have heard.

“I hope that the memories and names of those officers were brought forward in our memory,” he said.

In Brandon, the riders received a reception involving members of Brandon Police Service, police and fire cadets, the sheriff’s office, a conservation officer and Mayor Jeff Fawcett.

The group was welcomed through two lines of local representatives before brief speeches and a reception.

Meuleman said he was impressed by the response.

“I was blown away by the reception that we had there,” he said.

The Brandon stop lasted about 20 to 30 minutes before the riders headed to their hotel to rest for the next day’s journey.

The initiative currently stretches from Halifax to the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border. A separate team began riding from Halifax on the same day the Manitoba group was travelling east.

The riders will continue their efforts toward the Canadian Peace and Police Officers Memorial in Ottawa, held on the last Sunday of September. Meuleman will also resume riding in Windsor, Ont., before joining Ontario’s Ride to Remember and continuing toward Ottawa.

Organizers hope the national ride can expand in future years to involve more provinces and police services.

“We were able to cover off all the way from Halifax to the Saskatchewan-Manitoba border this year,” Meuleman said. “So it’s a huge undertaking and accomplishment.”

He acknowledged that bringing the entire country into one co-ordinated ride will be difficult, but said the goal is to continue building the initiative.

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