Terry Wayne Kopan

Divisions Served: “E

Medals & Honours: Long Service Medal with Gold Clasp, O.M.M., M.O.M., Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, Canadian Forces Decoration, “E” Div. CO’s Commendation

Pillar Location: Pillar IX, Row 31, Column D

Story: 

Inspector Terry Wayne KOPAN dedicated 36 years of service to the RCMP before he lost his courageous battle with cancer in January 2019. However, his story doesn’t end there, because there is much more to recall and remember about him with pride and loving fondness.

Terry grew up in Yorkton Saskatchewan and was a spirited young lad who joined the local sea cadet corps as a teen. It was in cadets that he met a little cutie named Kathi Austman. He was 14, she was 13. A couple years later they deduced they actually liked each other and started dating. They ultimately married in 1985 and were together for nearly 40 years. Undoubtedly their greatest joy was becoming parents to their three amazing children, Laura, Matthew, and Sarah.
Before joining the forces, Terry worked in a motorcycle shop in Yorkton, which most certainly inspired his passion for motorcycles and riding the roads. A hobby and love he would later share with Kathi and their son Matthew. Terry was a firefighter with the Yorkton Fire Department. Public service, linked with a drive to help people, ultimately led him to join the RCMP in 1981 at 20 years old.

Terry always admired the RCMP and wanted to contribute to the public by conducting investigations, solving crime and bringing criminals to justice. He was a life long learner who set out on a leadership journey to help others. Terry’s first posting after Depot was to Fort St John, BC where he worked in General Duties. It was in this community where Terry became part of a memorable case while part of the Emergency Response Team. The team was dispatched to a hostage taking involving a male suspect holding his girlfriend and infant at gunpoint. At one point the suspect dangled the baby by its feet out a high story window. The incident required the ability to remain calm under extreme pressure and for sound decision making. Terry and his colleagues on the ERT were able to mitigate and resolve this situation to the public’s satisfaction.

After Fort St John, Terry worked in various detachments in the Lower Mainland of BC including Langley, Surrey, Port Mann Highway Patrol, and E Division Community Poling. In 2003, Terry received his RCMP Commission to the rank of Inspector and served numerous roles including; Executive Officer to the Deputy Commissioner Pacific Region and Commanding Officer “E” Division, OIC of “E” Division Crime Prevention and Program Support Services, the OIC of National Performance Programs Pacific Region. While Terry enjoyed all his postings, the most impactful and memorable for him was the honour of being the Executive Officer to former “E” division CO and later RCMP Commissioner Bev BUSSON. Terry vastly admired Ms. BUSSON for her demonstration of true leadership and passion for the RCMP and the Canadian public, her guidance and mentorship, and perhaps above all else her friendship.

Terry had a long and distinguished career with the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF) Reserves Cadet Instructor Cadre (CIC). While Terry was a Corporal with the RCMP he was instrumental in changes in the national policy which resulted in the RCMP and the CAF to work together so that RCMP members could also serve as CIC officers. Terry held several positions of increasing responsibility leading up the rank of Lieutenant Colonel and an appointment as Commanding Officer for the Vernon Army Cadet Summer Training Center. He subsequently served as the CIC Regional Branch Advisor (Pacific) then as the subject matter expert in the program design and delivery for the CIC Senior Officers’ Training Course and the Leadership and Command Program.

Terry’s passion for leadership was recognized by both the RCMP and the CIC by rank and by duties such as leading the delivery of the RCMP core leadership training programs in the Pacific Region, as President of the “E” Division Memorial Fund Society, and as the Commanding Officer of Vernon Army Cadet Summer Training Centre responsible for 1000+ youth. Terry was also an Honorary Aide-de-Camp to The Lieutenant Governor of British Columbia, and was highly decorated attaining an Officer of the Order of Military Merit (OMM) a Member of the Order of Merit of the Police Forces (MOM), and was awarded; the Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, the RCMP Long Service Medal with Gold Clasp, the Canadian Forces Decoration, and an “E” Division Commanding Officer’s Commendation. He was also instrumental in helping make the E Division RCMP memorial wall at Green Timbers Headquarters a reality.

These professional accomplishments were great, but perhaps most poignant and impactful was that they never separated Terry from who he was at his core. He cared deeply about those in his charge, his colleagues, and the organizations he believed in so much, most notably the RCMP. He went out of his way to help people professionally and personally with limitless compassion for others. He was a true leader advocating that people are your greatest asset and that failing to take care of them is a failure to lead. He treated everyone professionally, with respect, and he led with humility. Terry’s strength and courage were personified when in 2002, he and Kathi suffered the tragic passing of their 17 year old daughter Laura in a car collision and later during his extensive battle with cancer. Terry was a true pillar, not only the Force, but to his family. His wife Kathi, daughter Sarah, son Matthew, daughter in law Sharon and grand daughters Victoria and Selena are evidence today of what love, commitment and family meant to Terry.

Terry’s professional Leadership legacy has lived on via the creation of the RCMP’s National Leadership Programs ‘Inspector Terry Kopan Leadership Award’ that annually recognizes one Supervisor Development Program (SDP) and one Manager Development Program (MDP) graduate from the Pacific Region who has demonstrated a commitment to employee development and leadership excellence.  This award is named in Terry’s memory.