NAPS honours 19 officers with awards

Nishnawbe-Aski Police Service Constable Blain Joynson was recently honoured for bravery during a 2010 shooting incident in Deer Lake that claimed the life of one man and wounded another.
“One male was deceased as a result of the wound he received and another male had two gunshot wounds,” said Joynson, who received the Bravery award at the NAPS 5th Honours and Awards Ceremony, held Oct. 17 at the Valhalla Inn in Thunder Bay. “I was the only officer working in the community at the time and I had about four crime scenes, I had these two victims and I basically did everything by myself for five hours before the first plane came with backup.”
Joynson said it was a “very stressful situation” to be in as the only police officer in the community.
“There was a lot going on — a lot of community members had questions,” Joynson said. “I did different things like evidence collection and the crime scene, I had to figure out where the accused was and what weapons were involved, and obviously my prime concern was safety of the community.”
Joynson was first informed of the shooting incident at 7:10 in the morning by security staff at the nursing station.
“I made my way to the nursing station and that is where I began my investigation,” Joynson said. “It was pretty stressful. I was working on two hours of sleep because I had a major occurrence the day before. With our service, you’re basically on call 24 hours a day.”
Joynson said the experience of being honoured with the Bravery award is “very humbling.”
“There are a lot of other officers who also deserve the award, but I’m just very thankful to receive it,” Joynson said.
Joynson, who grew up in Thunder Bay, has been serving with NAPS for about five years, the first three-and-a-half years in Deer Lake and the last year as a detective with the NAPS Guns and Gangs unit in Thunder Bay.
“My future goals are to possibly move up ranks in the service once my duration in this unit expires,” Joynson said. “When I got my detective spot, I’m also a member of our Emergency Response Team. We deal with any high risk or major incidents within our territory, such as barricaded persons, missing persons, search and rescue, suspect apprehension, execution of search warrants and other things like evidence collection.”
NAPS also honoured Sgt. Raymond Sutherland with a bravery, historical award during the awards ceremony, which included 17 additional awards for other police officers and civilians.
Const. Robert MacPhail received the Officer of the Year award, Ian De Leon received the Civilian of the Year award and Helen DeFranceschi received honourable mention for Civilian of the Year.
Const. Jassen Metatawabin received the Wilfred Chum Coach Officer Award; Det. Const. Brad Duce received the Investigation of the Year award; Mary Friday received the Chief of Police Citation; and OPP Communications Centre Sgt. David Dodsworth received the Governor General of Canada Exemplary Service Medal.
Constables Conrad Paypompee, Andrew Dunn, Simon Chartrand, Troy Larose and Shannon Parks received Lifesaving awards while Constables Bradley Skrzypek, Waylon Linklater and Dwaine Howe received Community Service awards.
Const. Marc Beaparlant and retired Sgt. Bob Baxter also received Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medals, which were created to mark the 2012 celebrations of the 60th anniversary of Queen Elizabeth’s accession to the throne.
Beaparlant was recognized for his work with the DARE program and Baxter for his work with victims.