Officers remember police killed in the line of duty
Nearly two dozen people, many of them officers, from across Simcoe County came together Sunday to honour police who have lost their lives in the line of duty.
Police forces from across the country have been participating in the 'Run to Remember this week. The event, typically a three-day run from a memorial in Toronto to one in Ottawa, has been scaled back due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
"COVID is a very fluid situation, but we're going to continue to do what we can to continue this run, to continue to pay tribute to those officers," says Barrie Police Detective Constable Sarah Bamford who has been participating for seven years. "So hopefully next year, we can get back to that norm and do that run to Ottawa."
Bamford was one of nearly two dozen who gathered at the Nottawasaga OPP Detachment, where participants held the scaled-down version for this area. The Barrie police officer was joined by OPP officers and members from Base Borden, all doing their part to remember the lives lost in the line of duty.
"We may have lost officers from various services, detachments across the country, but at the end of the day, we are one family, and we are here to support each other."
Also participating at the Simcoe event was Erin Ochakovksy, the founder of SOLE, the Survivors of Law Enforcement. Ochakovksy lost her husband, Peel Regional Police Constable James Ochakovksy, more than 10 years ago.
"In the line of duty where they go to work, you say goodbye I'll see you at the end of your shift, and they don't come home; it makes everything kind of go black," Ochakovsky says.
Ochakovksy says gatherings like this are important. While more than a decade has gone by since she lost her husband, she says the connection she has formed as the widow of a fallen officer hasn't wavered, acknowledging events like Saturdays are essential.
"Being able to tell our children that our loved ones will never be forgotten and then show them through the memorial run and through the memorials is something that I'm so grateful for because my son never has to ask what his dad did for a living and how he lost is life was for nothing," she says.
For more information, click here.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Quebec nurse had to clean up after husband's death in Montreal hospital
On a night she should have been mourning, a nurse from Quebec's Laurentians region says she was forced to clean up her husband after he died at a hospital in Montreal.
Cuban government apologizes to Montreal-area family after delivering wrong body
Cuba's foreign affairs minister has apologized to a Montreal-area family after they were sent the wrong body following the death of a loved one.
What is changing about Canada's capital gains tax and how does it impact me?
The federal government's proposed change to capital gains taxation is expected to increase taxes on investments and mainly affect wealthy Canadians and businesses. Here's what you need to know about the move.
'Anything to win': Trudeau says as Poilievre defends meeting protesters
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is accusing Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre of welcoming 'the support of conspiracy theorists and extremists,' after the Conservative leader was photographed meeting with protesters, which his office has defended.
Northern Ont. lawyer who abandoned clients in child protection cases disbarred
A North Bay, Ont., lawyer who abandoned 15 clients – many of them child protection cases – has lost his licence to practise law.
Boeing's financial woes continue, while families of crash victims urge U.S. to prosecute the company
Boeing said Wednesday that it lost US$355 million on falling revenue in the first quarter, another sign of the crisis gripping the aircraft manufacturer as it faces increasing scrutiny over the safety of its planes and accusations of shoddy work from a growing number of whistleblowers.
Bank of Canada officials split on when to start cutting interest rates
Members of the Bank of Canada's governing council were split on how long the central bank should wait before it starts cutting interest rates when they met earlier this month.
Fair in Ontario, flurries in Labrador: Weather systems make for an erratic spring
"It's a bit of a complicated pattern; we've got a lot going on," said Jennifer Smith of the Meteorological Service of Canada in an interview with CTVNews.ca on Wednesday. "[As is] typical with weather, all of these things are related."
Police tangle with students in Texas and California as wave of campus protest against Gaza war grows
Police tangled with student demonstrators in Texas and California while new encampments sprouted Wednesday at Harvard and other colleges as school leaders sought ways to defuse a growing wave of pro-Palestinian protests.