Aberheart Joseph Dosenberger

Divisions Served: “F”

Medals & Honours: Long Service Medal, 125th Anniversary Confederation of Canada Medal

Pillar Location: Pillar VII, Row 8, Column B

Story: 

I joined the Force in 1967 after spending one year with the Canadian Penitentiary Service in New Westminster and Matsqui B.C.  All of my service was spent in Saskatchewan at Melfort, La Ronge, Colonsay, Rosthern, Wakaw and Regina.  I retired as a Sergeant in 1995 and then worked with the Saskatchewan Liquor and Gaming Authority for five years.  What followed was employment as a temporary civilian RCMP employee, conducting applicant interviews and Violent Crime Analysis file reviews, and a mix of Indian Residential Schools and workplace harassment investigations.  As of 2020, I am still doing these investigations.

I had many interesting postings and challenges, but the three years I spent in La Ronge stand out the most.  First, and most importantly, that is where I met my wife Elaine!  Our first son, Kevin, was born there in 1970.  Our twin boys, Brian and Michael, followed four years later but at a much less exciting posting. 

A typical La Ronge night shift involved a stop for coffee at the hospital.  That is where I met my wife who was an RN.  She had been persuaded by a fast-talking Board Chair to leave Grey Nuns Hospital in Regina for stint in La Ronge.

I had two great NCO’s in La Ronge, Joe Nolan and John Sniezek, both of whom gave me many opportunities to develop.  Joe would put a hand behind his head (cigarette in the other) and calmly probe to see if you came up with the right solutions yourself.  In a paramilitary organization he was years ahead his time.  John loved to teach young members the intricacies of fishing for walleye and the value of knowing your poker odds.

La Ronge presented a variety of great experiences. Our nightly routine was to patrol the town and adjacent reserves.  We returned to the detachment every half hour or so to check for recorded calls. Most often we had a prisoner to lodge as a result of our patrol of the bar area or following a Reserve incident.  Nights were generally busy and a “shift” did not really seem to end.  Most days off were spent working.

The duties in La Ronge were varied, providing you were willing to explore the opportunities.  In the summer, I spent a lot of time on the lake checking cabins for evidence of break-ins, enforcing fishing limits, and boating licensing / safety regulations.  There were airplane crashes, missing trappers, stormed stayed kids to be rescued, and frequent suspicious drownings.

Lac La Ronge is a large and cold lake.  We did not have underwater divers in those days so our only method of recovery was to drag a bar with hooks attached to it along the bottom of the lake in the area where the drowning occurred.  It is a painstaking process.  While trying to check a fishing net, two men fell in the water when their prop was caught in the net.  One survived.  My NCO, Joe Nolan, wanted to leave on vacation but was reluctant to go until the body was recovered.  Special Constable Phil Carriere and I dragged for hours.  I could feel a ridge of rock on the end of the rope when we passed over a certain area.  On the next pass I tried to drop the bar to ensure we covered the rocky area’s edge.  As luck would have it, I caught the victim’s underwear with one of the hooks and we brought the body to the surface.  I couldn’t believe our luck.  We managed to get hold of the very large body by a few threads.  Whew!

At the risk of sounding crazy, I have to recount one of the most bizarre drowning incidents that took place on the Geikie River.  A number of American tourists left an outfitter’s camp with a canoe laden with supplies.  The river has treacherous rapids and their canoe overturned.  The tourists managed to survive and returned to the outfitter’s camp minus their supplies.  They told several guides that they could have the supplies if they wanted to retrieve them.  The two guides recovered the lost treasure including some liquor which they consumed.  They took off in rainy conditions and portaged the rapids.  Unfortunately, their canoe overturned a short distance from shore.  One was a swimmer and the other was not.  The swimmer did not survive.  The non-swimmer, dressed in rain gear, sank to the bottom and we later learned he had found his way to shore. S/Cst Carriere and I investigated.  Gord Hayden flew us to the Geikie River and landed CF-MPV on a dime.  We had spotted a backpack from the air and knew we had the right area.  Phil Carriere used a canoe to check the water at the bottom of the rapids.  He paddled around and said, “There must have been a moose in here, there are tracks.”  I suggested we needed to find a body!  We recovered the victim and flew it out. The survivor had been hospitalized for a few days and, when released, Phil and I spoke to him.  He said that when the canoe overturned, he sank to the bottom and managed to walk to the shore (probably 20 feet).  I found his account hard to believe even given Phil’s comments about moose tracks so I asked someone else to interpret the victim’s version of events.  It was the same.

The Anglo-Rouyn copper mine was close to town.  The miners could be rowdy and tough to manage.  My coworkers were all about six feet tall but I was “little Joe,” which made things a bit difficult at times.  I went underground to investigate the death of a miner who had a huge piece of rock fall and crush him. It gave me an appreciation for how difficult a miner’s life was.  On another occasion, I had to arrest a miner for mental health issues.  While in the hospital, he locked the door and offered my wife $5,000 if she would marry him – a lot of money in those days.  She told me that she had to think about it for a few minutes – the money was real – I had it placed in the hospital administrator’s safe.

La Ronge members were allowed to take on roles and responsibilities far sooner than those members stationed further south.  I had three years of service when I investigated a suspicious house fire death.  I had studied books on arson/fire investigations and I was very familiar with the Coroner’s Act processes.  I ended up testifying and conducting the inquest on my own with no assistance from anyone else.  It was not the best way to do police work, but there was little choice. 

I spent a good deal of time flying to camps and northern reserves to conduct investigations.  We had great pilots who could land anywhere in horrible conditions.  S/Sgts Gordon Hayden and Jack Van Norman flew me around in CF-MPV.  On one occasion, I was conducting an investigation regarding a possible Customs Act violation at a large northern camp so we did not announce our presence until we were about to land.  When Hayden called in, he received a panicky message that there was a medical emergency.  They asked if we could fly the person to Lynn Lake, Manitoba.  It turned out that the patient was a guide who was struck in the nose by an errant four-inch fishing lure.  We picked up the poor soul and flew him to Lynn Lake where he could have it removed.  I returned later and seized an illegally imported generator.

The North in the years 1967-71 was pretty remote.  The RCMP was often called up to perform non-policing functions.  I had the job of flying to northern settlements, including trapper’s cabins, to have the residents complete the 1971 census forms.  It was not a process that could take forever so it had to be done in short order.  Southend is one community that stands out.  It has a population now of over 900, but it did not take me more than a few hours to complete their census forms in 1971!  There was no need to ask most of the questions.

There are many other memorable investigations at La Ronge and elsewhere that I could recount involving suspicious sudden deaths, several murders, suicides, and missing persons, but the ones I have described stand out for me.  Other veterans have similar stories.

When I was dating my wife, we had a local burger joint make our version of a BLT.  The owner put it on the menu as a “Dosenburger Special.”  One night I was patrolling a few hundred yards away when I heard a loud bang.  It turned out that a jilted boyfriend had used a few sticks of dynamite to blow the place up, and there went my special sandwich.

Long term relationships motivate us and provide stability.  I gained many friendships during my RCMP service. Some are members; others are not.  One of my best friends is Gordon Ratzlaff, whom I met while stationed in Rosthern in 1977.  Our friendship started with our involvement in sports.  I played badminton with him at the high school where he worked.  He was good!  We travelled to badminton tournaments in the Prince Albert area before adding tennis and racket ball to our repertoire.  He has been a loyal and faithful friend ever since.

I thank my family and the many members I have interacted with for helping me to enjoy a successful and rewarding career.