THUNDER BAY – Keeping youth safe around water is one of the goals of the Ontario Provincial Police. For remote First Nation communities in Northwestern Ontario, travel on the local waterways is as common through the summer months as a walk on a sidewalk is in Thunder Bay and other cities in the south.
The OPP Indigenous Policing Bureau has under the leadership of OPP sergeant Marty Singleton of the Northwest Provincial Liason Team Coordinator made sure, along with help from North Star Air to get 50 lifejackets donated to Neskantaga First Nation.
The annual OPP campaign promotes water safety in the North and North Star Air is proud to donate air transport to the community.
This project has been going on for several years. Sergeant Marty Singleton first started looking for donations to get lifejackets in 2015.
Back then, in 2015, Sergeant Peter Moon of the Canadian Rangers wrote, “Singleton, a member of the Eagle Lake First Nation near Dryden, embarked on a personal campaign, with the support of the OPP, to collect 1,000 life jackets through donations and get them into the Far North. He has collected almost half his target but getting the jackets into the remote Northern communities without road access is often a bigger challenge.”
These efforts demonstrate how by working together, we can make a difference in the lives of people across Northwestern Ontario.
