The Blood Tribe Police Service wrapped up its first three-day summer camp for kids living on the reserve on Wednesday.
The program aims to teach kids to make better future choices, while undergoing some training that a police officer would, including riding in the front seat of a cruiser navigating through pylons.
Cst. Catlin Chiasson hopes to make the camp an annual event.
“It’s very, very important to do stuff like this because we’re moulding our future,” Chiasson said.
He says it’s especially important given the local geography.
“The kids on the reserve here, they don’t have the opportunity to walk down the road to go swimming, or go bowling, or any other event,” Chiasson said. “Some kids actually live way out in what we call ‘the bush.'”
Brooklyn Many Grey Horses, 10, says she’d probably be playing on her Xbox at home if she wasn’t taking part in the program.
“It’s more fun and I can make new friends instead of online,” Many Grey Horses said.
Not only did she make new friends, but now she’s sure she wants to be a police officer when she’s older.
Her camp friend Ryder Little Bear feels the same way.
“Cause you can drive a police car and go fight crime,” Little Bear said.