2023 OACP Award of Excellence in the Advancement of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity in Policing

The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police is the voice of Ontario’s Police Leaders.  

Members of the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police serve their communities as senior police leaders in municipal, regional, provincial, national, and First Nations police services across Ontario.

Media Release

Staff Sergeant Brooke McRoberts, Ontario Provincial Police

Awarded the 2023 OACP Award of Excellence in the Advancement of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity in Policing

For Immediate Release: June 13, 2023

(Kingston, ON) – The Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police (OACP) is pleased to award the OACP 2023 Award of Excellence in the Advancement of Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity in Policing to Staff Sergeant Brooke McRoberts of the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP).

This award honours an individual or organization that demonstrates exceptional commitment to achieving/advancing equity, diversity, and inclusion within their police organization and/or communities.

S/Sgt. McRoberts is an outstanding example of Indigenous leadership for her contributions to the OPP, the policing profession, and Indigenous communities. She conducts herself with humility, honesty, respect, and consistently demonstrates ways to improve training and outreach. As an Indigenous Awareness Trainer, she teaches about Indigenous people, their cultural practices, history, and ongoing issues impacting Indigenous people and communities.

As the Training and Policy Coordinator/Sergeant with the Provincial Liaison Team, she has built relationships with Indigenous communities and provided training for officers on appropriate responses to demonstrations and critical incidents potentially involving Indigenous people. In her current role as the Manager of the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Team, she draws upon her experience, cultural teachings, and connections with the community to advocate for positive changes across the OPP and policing overall to increase the safety and security of Indigenous people. In her commitment to facilitating organizational learning opportunities, S/Sgt. McRoberts created an eight-session Competency Building Series on missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls, which provided more than 12 hours of multi-disciplinary content to OPP members.

S/Sgt. McRoberts was also instrumental in re-establishing the Indigenous Advisory Circles to the OPP. She has established working relationships between the members of the Advisory Circles and the Commissioner and his Command Team, increasing communication between the OPP leadership and Indigenous communities. She also increased communication with community members by organizing open virtual information sessions to provide information and updates about the OPP response to the Calls for Justice, the Calls to Action, and other relevant recommendations.  In 2022, she delivered presentations to internal and external partners on Missing And Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls and Truth and Reconciliation, including to attendees of the OPP’s Indigenous Awareness Training Course, the OPP Executive Command Team, York Regional Police investigators, corrections workers, the Office of the Independent Police Review Director, and other community organizations.

S/Sgt. McRoberts also worked with the Ontario Association of Chiefs of Police and the Indigenous Police Chiefs of Ontario to organize a two-day training event for police service members from across Ontario. This training raised awareness of Indigenous culture, issues impacting Indigenous people, and what police services can do to further reconciliation.

This annual award is made possible by the generous support from

Accident Support Services International Ltd.

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Media Contact:

José Luís (Joe) Couto

Director of Government Relations & Communications
C. (416) 919-9798

E. jcouto@oacp.ca

Twitter: @OACPOfficial

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