Read Tim and Brandon’s interview below.
TIM COSGROVE
Can you tell me a bit about who you are and where you’re from?
My name is Tim Cosgrove, I’m currently with the Sidney RCMP in the Indigenous Policing position. I’ve been a police officer for almost 16 years, all on Vancouver Island in various communities. I did seven years working in Ladysmith, working with the people on Penelakut and Stz’uminus. Then I went to the North Island and worked over on the West Coast with people in Kyuquot, Ehattesaht, Oclucje.
How are you working in supporting Tsartlip?
Trying to be in community as much as possible. Every day, we try to be in the school zones first of all. When school’s in session, we try to be there in the morning when kids are arriving at school. We try to slow traffic down on West Saanich Road, which has always been an issue for the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership Secondary School and for the Tsartlip community. We spend time in the schools, sometimes teaching kids lessons on safety, such as road safety, anti-bullying, drug and alcohol and vaping awareness. Also we play sports with kids when we have time. We’re going to help out with the basketball tournament at the W̱SÁNEĆ Leadership school on the 13th and 14th of February, so looking forward to being part of that.
We also do patrols in Tsartlip to show presence and make sure anybody that’s in the community belongs there and there’s nobody there for any nefarious reasons. We also try to stop in the Band Office and the Health Centre and introduce ourselves and get to know members of the community. Also anybody out in their yard or kids on the street playing sports, we try to introduce ourselves and get to know them.
What do you hope to accomplish with your work?
I just hope to get to know as many members of the community as possible, establish myself as a trustworthy person in the community that people can come to for help or questions or basically any information they need, on driver’s license info, safety, things like that. I want to learn as much as I can about culture in the community. I hope to be in the position for a while. I’m really feeling welcome in the community so far and really loving the job.
Why is your work important?
We want to establish relationships and trust so that we come into the community with an approach that the community will accept. We have resources that we can direct people to as well, so when we come in and have to deal with somebody, we always offer some sort of help, whether that’s victim services or addictions counselling. So, we’ve also tried to build relations with other agencies within Tsartlip and other agencies that help the W̱SÁNEĆ communities so that we can refer people. That’s a big part of us trying to keep people safe, making sure that that day isn’t the end of it and that they have resources after the fact to help improve their circumstances from that point forward.
Is there anything else you’d like the community to know?
I’m very thankful for the welcome I’ve received thus far, and just looking forward to getting to know more members and working with you for the next hopefully many years.
BRANDON LIGI
Could you just tell me a little bit about who you are and where you’re from?
My name is Brandon Ligi. I’m in my seventh year with the RCMP.
I’m originally from Peterborough, Ontario, and so that’s where I was recruited out of. So I went and left for Depot back in 2017. I was posted with Tim as well in Port McNeill, so on the North Island and he was my trainer. So Tim and I, our work history goes back my entire career.
How are you going to be supporting the Tsartlip community?
We have a number of things that we try to accomplish each day, each week, each month, and our main focus, as Tim was saying, is community engagement. We want to try to get out there and make ourselves known, on a first name basis with people. We want to try to be there as a support to the community, specifically, the Tsartlip community in any way that we can.
With me still learning a lot of what’s going on day to day, and just starting to be invited to various meetings and events and things, I’m learning not only what the community has and is, but also it allows me to see what the community might need, or what we can do to better support them. So, as I learn more about the Tsartlip community, that’s going to help change and guide our direction with what we can do to be more supportive. But really the main thing is just be there, be present, be a recognizable face and someone that the community trusts that they can come and talk to us about, even if I don’t know the answers, hopefully we can help them find the answers or get them in touch with the right people or resources that they need.
What do you hope to accomplish with your work?
I think one of the main things I hope to accomplish is a positive impact, and hopefully I leave this role feeling like I did make some change or improvement, and a lot of that would be around building community trust with the police. I acknowledge that our history, it’s not all pretty and beautiful, and mistakes have been made over the years. We hope to work hard to try and better our relationships, specifically with the Tsartlip community. And, just try to move forward in a way that is a good, positive relationship. And a lot of that is around trust as well. So my main goal is to leave the position one day in a better state than when it was given to me.
Is there anything else that you want to share with the community?
I just want to say thank you to the Tsartlip community again specifically who have been very welcoming to me. I’ve been really enjoying this role so far. I’m looking forward to the months and hopefully years to come, and just kind of what it can evolve into. But so far, I’m really enjoying it.
