Prince Albert Police Service to host Further Down the Road with Cadmus Delorme

Bailey Sutherland/Local Journalism Initiative Reporter/Daily Herald From left to right, PAPS Deputy Chief Farica Prince, Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme, and PAPS Chief Jon Bergen pose for a photo prior to An Evening Journey with Cadmus Delorme in November 2022.

Community invited to continue the discussion around reconciliation

Cowessess First Nation Chief Cadmus Delorme will be back in Prince Albert on May 2 to continue the conversation on truth and reconciliation after the overwhelmingly positive community feedback received following Delorme’s first visit to the city in 2022.

“We’re really thankful to have Cadmus willing to come back up north,” said Deputy Chief of the Prince Albert Police Service (PAPS) Farica Prince. “He loves it up here [and] he thinks very highly of Prince Albert and the people of PA and surrounding communities. He’s just as excited as we are.”

The Prince Albert Police Service has invited Delorme back to the EA Rawlinson Centre for the second time in less then six months, making sure to include Prince Albert’s youth in the discussion this go around.

Prince explained that they decided to host two visits with Delorme on May 2, with one in the afternoon held specially for kids in grades seven to twelve that go to schools in Prince Albert and surrounding areas.

“Cadmus will have a message for the students that afternoon and then we’ll do a stage change,” said Prince. “Nicole and Daphne with Community Youth Building Futures, they deliver incredible programming and resources to Prince Albert youth. They’re going to have the rest of the afternoon to deliver messages on what it is they have to offer for the youth of Prince Albert and hopefully raise awareness on what is available to the youth that they might not know about.”

Since Delorme’s first visit to Prince Albert in November, Prince said there have been many discussions with different community members and organizations that are interested in hearing about the next steps to reconciliation; sparking the decision to bring the renowned public speaker back to the city.

“The feedback we received really told us that we made the right decision in hosting that community event,” said Prince. “That really signals to us that that his message was well received, and Prince Albert is really ready to explore what truth and reconciliation looks like.”

Facilitating Delorme’s visits to the city is just one way the Prince Albert Police Service has dedicated themselves to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission Calls to Action, according to Prince.

“We understand the importance of professional development but also building community and recognizing that, historically, the relationship between Indigenous people and police has not always been positive,” said Prince. “We have a direct responsibility to make reparations and continue to contribute to reconciliation in a positive way, and this is how we do that.”

Despite the hard work they’ve put in to make these events a possibility, Prince said they wouldn’t have been able to do it without the Prince Albert community behind them.

“We’re really thankful that so many different parts of Prince Albert have come together to support us,” she said. “Prince Albert Police Service would not [have] been able to do these reconciliation efforts on our own and we’re definitely thankful.”

Join Delorme, the Northern Prairie Dancers and the Ironswing Singers for the free event open to everyone in the community on Tuesday, May 2, at 7:30 p.m.

Tickets can be found through the EA Rawlinson Centre for the Arts and Canadian Tire, free of charge.

-Advertisement-