Gordon George Tomlinson

Divisions Served: “A,” “K,” “E”

Medals & Honours: Long Service Medal with Gold Clasp, Queen Elizabeth II Golden Jubilee Medal

Pillar Location: Pillar IX, Row 5, Column D

Story: 

In April 1973, I hugged my parents, kissed my girlfriend good-bye and with $65.00 burning a hole in my pocket, I set out in my 1966 Chevy II heading west towards the adventure of a lifetime.

6 months in Regina went by quickly. I enjoyed polishing boots about as much as the next guy, but I was taught well and it is a habit I maintain to this day.

Before I knew it, I was headed back across the country for my first posting on Parliament Hill in Ottawa. I was eager to practice everything I had learned, but the tulips weren’t too concerned with the contents of the Criminal Code and my days on the hill were mostly spent chatting with tourists and smiling for photographs. I still have the ripped and torn brown serge from one memorable day when a group of protestors marched on Parliament Hill and a protester grabbed my serge in his attempt to “make an example out of this one”:  Fitness training kicked in and while they tore my serge, I stood my ground with the remainder of the RCMP “Soft Hat” line encircling Center Block.

I took great pride in wearing the scarlet serge, but I really wanted to tackle community policing and in late 1974, I was once again headed west and north to a detachment in Lac La Biche, Alberta … so small that we couldn’t find it on our copy of the Alberta road map. Shortly after arriving at my new post, I made a quick trip back to Ontario and married my girlfriend. (To say my bride was unimpressed with the 2 1/2 hour cold snowy drive north up Hwy #63/55 to our new home would be an understatement, but she wisely kept her thoughts to herself.) What an experience for a novice policeman … in 1977, Lac La Biche had more crime per capita than any other community in Canada. It was wonderful training for my chosen career path. And although we worked hard, we made lifelong friends there with whom we still visit on a regular basis. Both our children were born in Lac La Biche and we all enjoyed our 4 years there.

And then we were on our way south to another bustling community, Brooks, during the busy oil boom days. And much time spent on the flat dusty roads of the large rural area visiting with the farmers and enjoying more than one delicious piece of pie with a cup of coffee in the afternoon. 5 years in Brooks and as our children grew and began school, we became involved in many of the community organizations and activities. This was a conscious decision we made as we never wanted to let the “day job” overwhelm and colour our opinions about the general population.

A promotion in charge of Fort Chipewyan was too good to pass up, and so we packed up the family, ordered 2 years worth of groceries to be barged north and headed in to a 2 year limited duration isolation post. What an experience it was … our children learned Cree, we lived on the edge of the Canadian Shield and experienced firsthand the beauty of the Canadian North. We all learned humility and living as a minority in a mostly Indigenous and Metis community. Some of the longest days of our lives passed slowly in the cold dark winter.  I knew it was time to go when I came home one day to find my wife eagerly entranced with a program on CBC North, instructing the viewers on skinning muskrats. I was a little leery about any new items on the dinner menu after that, as we counted down our days in the Frozen North. So many wonderful adventures and memories!

Turner Valley, Alberta was calling to us and our children were eager to start school and make new friends. We loved living close to the mountains and becoming acquainted with the cowboy culture that was now a part of our new community. Fortunately Tanya and Dave were both able to complete their elementary and high school education in Turner Valley and Black Diamond. We became involved in the communities as well and fell in love with the foothills and the people there. It would be a love affair that stood the test of time and about 10 years after retirement, the foothills drew us back and we have settled there with a view to the southwest of the Rocky Mountains.

Once again, a promotion lured me away from my family to Gleichen, Alberta where I spent 4 years involved in another busy community and increased my knowledge of living and working with indigenous peoples. While I was stationed there, our RCMP members were honoured to be invited to take part in a cross-cultural training weekend with the Siksika Nation (Blackfoot) Elders. We spent a weekend camping with the Elders on sacred ground that had not seen a white man since Treaty 7 had been signed.

After a short 4 months in Calgary, a new challenge presented itself in Edmonton in Internal Investigations. Travel, lots of interviews and many written reports, but I must say that I was pleased to discover what a small percentage of the force actually needed “investigation”.

By now, we had been to every corner of the province except the northwest. A promotion and transfer to Grande Prairie remedied that as we settled in to the beauty of Peace River Country. Another busy posting … but the lure of the cold prairie winters was wearing thin and a transfer to the Lower Mainland of BC was too much to resist.

And so we were off to the biggest detachment in Canada … a bit of a switch from the rural and northern policing of Alberta. My position was to travel from major crime scene to major crime scene. All of a sudden my definitions of “Major Crime” had to change … a robbery with a knife was more serious than a break and enter and a robbery with a gun trumped the robbery with a knife. A view into the serious drug culture and gang related warfare were all new activities … Surrey was a very busy detachment. As the millennial approached, we prepared for the worst, not knowing what to expect. But the new year arrived with barely a whimper and we all survived the transition to the 21st century with few obstacles …

In 2000, I received a wonderful opportunity … a transfer to North Vancouver, one of the prime postings in BC and a perfect place to finish my career. With tremendous support from the community, a beautiful detachment building, and a terrific group of members, I was honoured to spend my final years as a member of the RCMP in charge of that detachment. A highlight of my days in North Vancouver was the annual Remembrance Day parade where we were blessed to have up to 90 members in uniform from all over the Lower Mainland come together and march.

And then it was over … 36 years had come and gone … a lifetime of new opportunities, fantastic explorations of so many varied parts of the country, insight into different cultures and communities, a career that never ever grew boring and offered new challenges every single day. But most of all it was the people … from the local drunk in Lac La Biche, who upon being released from cells one early morning, walked past the washroom in the detachment as the seized liquor was being poured down the drain, turned immediately on his heel and walked back into the cells, closing the door behind him and pronouncing that he did not want to be a part of a world that poured out good booze … to the farmers and ranchers in Alberta who always took the time to stop and share a cup of coffee and some of the local gossip … to the secretaries and executive assistants who organized my schedules, my correspondence and sometimes even my thoughts better than I could … to the politicians and senior bureaucrats who ensured municipal and provincial governments worked in partnership with the RCMP to keep our communities safe and free from crime. Of course it was the wonderful friendships with the other members that formed and sustained us through all those years. We are so fortunate to be able to travel anywhere across this vast land and meet up with friends, sit, have a visit and reminisce about the “good old days” …