Pierre Boisvert

Divisions Served: “K”

Pillar Location: Pillar X, Row 13, Column E

Story: 

I applied for the RCMP in Montreal in January of 1981 at the age of 20 after having spent 18 months at Sherbrooke University studying biochemistry. I was hired on 3 Sept. 1981. I remember very well my recruiter asking me if I would be able to sleep in the same bedroom with 31 other recruits for 6 months! As it turns out those moments before going to bed are some of my best memories. Being French with very limited English, I was taught “all the words that you can’t say on TV” !! Would you know it, it later helped me understand the language in drill class!

I spent the first two months at “Depot“ learning English and then 6 months of regular training. I graduated in May of 1982 and was first posted to Valleyview, Alberta (82/89), a town with a population of 1300, neighbouring the Sturgeon Lake I.R. #154. In 1984, while on holiday in Hawaii, I met my wife to be, Maureen, who was from Edmonton Alberta. We married in 1985 and had our first child in 1988 (Brendan). Our daughter (Lauren) was born in Calgary while I was posted at the Calgary airport (90\92). I retired as a constable in May of 2002 in Westlock Alberta (92/2002). I always enjoyed woodworking and renovating. I started doing it as a paying job on my days off in 1993. That business grew every year to a point where it became difficult to be effective with both jobs. I eventually chose the less frustrating and with fewer night shift jobs and went into it full time. Ironically on 3 Sep 2002, Greenwood Construction was incorporated. I never regretted for one second my work with the RCMP. I learned so much about the native people in my first 7 years of service. I also dealt with a lot of mentally challenged people. Having been a Constable, by choice, for 22 years I feel that I have earned a degree in human behavior.