NORTH BATTLEFORD — There is a change of command at the top of Battlefords RCMP detachment.
Insp. Jesse Gilbert will be the new commander of the Battlefords RCMP detachment. He was introduced at Monday night’s North Battleford city council meeting at the Don Ross Centre.
At the same time, S/Sgt. Jason Teniuk is leaving the Battlefords after 14 years and after serving as the interim officer in charge since last year. Teniuk is transferring to Warman to be detachment commander there.
Monday’s meeting included words of welcome for Gilbert, who comes to the Battlefords from K Division in Alberta. He has also had postings in the Northwest Territories and Yukon, and started his new job in the Battlefords last week. In his remarks Gilbert noted the Battlefords will be “the first place I’ve worked that’s not considered an isolated post.”
Gilbert said he was “very excited to try and address some of the challenges here. I know that you guys as a city council are engaged heavily in attempting to fix the problem. That’s what I want to work with, positive partners who don’t just expect us to do it all. So, I’m very excited for the partnership.”
There were even more remarks on the departure of Teniuk. A number of RCMP representatives were on hand including RCMP Central Division Spt. Brent Olberg, and Sgt. Neil Tremblay and Sgt. Christopher Stephens from Battlefords RCMP.
Olberg, who had himself spent time working in the Battlefords detachment, told council that Teniuk has “done a phenomenal job for a number of years. The Battlefords is certainly one of those places once that you come to it’s really hard to leave. I think it was for myself, and certainly Jason’s demonstrated that as well. It’s a busy place with a lot of work challenges, but it’s the friendships in the community that certainly keep us around and engaged. Jason’s done a phenomenal job for a longer period of time than we had initially expected, but you’re in good hands and he had our full confidence.”
Among those on hand to pay tribute was the former mayor Ryan Bater, who provided his thoughts about working alongside Teniuk for the city.
“Policing in our community is not an easy gig. It’s a lot of hard work … and we should be grateful for all the men and women who served in law enforcement here in North Battleford and the surrounding community within the entire detachment.”
Bater said he always appreciated Teniuk’s “honesty, his forthrightness, the way that he explained things to me as a layperson that I could understand so that I had a very clear understanding of what our challenges were.”
Bater also said of Teniuk that “his heart was in it. He struck me as somebody who honestly and truly cared about our city.”
Mayor David Gillan paid tribute to Teniuk for his honesty, professionalism and integrity.
“We say goodbye with heavy hearts. We know that you’re off to a great opportunity in Warman and we wish you all the very best. As former mayor Bater said, we hope that you will always remember us and we hope someday your trails bring you back to the Battlefords.”
Mayor Gillan then presented Teniuk a parting gift: a framed picture depicting the old Battleford bridge.
