Fort Albany officer recognized with Wilfred Chum Coach Officer Award

The 2012 recipient of Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service’s Wilfred Chum Coach Officer Award enjoys passing on his knowledge of the Albany River to youth.
“We do a rafting trip every year from Constance Lake,” said Const. Jassen Metatawabin, who has served with NAPS for about 10 years in his home community of Fort Albany. “We teach the kids about different historical aspects of the river, hunting and fishing spots, how to fillet fish, how to harvest off the land. Me and Karen do a lot of fishing, mostly for pickerel and a little bit of pike.”
Metatawabin said some youth in his community do not have many opportunities to go out on the land.
“That’s the whole purpose of the rafting trip — to get them out on the land,” Metatawabin said. “To open their eyes up and see what is out there. It’s almost like the kids are getting urbanized on their little reserve.”
Metatawabin and his partner Karen, who is originally from Constance Lake, have completed the 10-day spring journey down the Albany River along with about 20 other community members during three of the last four years.
“It’s a free-floating raft, so we just float with the current,” Metatawabin said. “We use a boat motor once in a while to tug us to certain spots.”
They usually hire a contractor to build the 65-foot-long by 16-foot-wide raft, which has bunk beds in the stern, a dining/kitchen area in the middle and an open area in the bow.
“Me and my wife are both hard core — we go on the river all the time with our kids and my parents,” Metatawabin said. “We’re really involved with the Albany River and promoting its richness and variety and the cultural benefits it has with the fishing and hunting and the travelling.”
Metatawabin developed an interest in policing after Karen studied law in university.
“Her father was a police officer with NAPS for 22 years and the OPP (Ontario Provincial Police) before that,” Metatawabin said.
Metatawabin enjoys working in his home community, noting he knows just about everyone.
“I have to deal with a lot of my family, like my uncles and aunts and cousins, so it has its positive moments and its negative moments,” Metatawabin said. “And it’s easier for me, I believe, to interact with everybody because I do know everybody.”
Metatawabin can usually tell who is calling on the radiotelephone just by the way they talk.
“And I know where they live and I know the history of pretty much all the calls and I can give that to my rookies,” Metatawabin said.
Metatawabin appreciated being recognized with the Wilfred Chum Coach Officer Award. He also acknowledged the assistance he received as a young police officer.
“Even Wilfred Chum, who the award is named after, gave me a lot of guidance and a lot of wisdom,” Metatawabin said. “There are a lot of senior officers around NAPS that contribute all the time. It’s not just one person coaching officers, it’s an entire group.”