Members of Abbotsford’s first responder community and the family of murdered police officer John Davidson are gearing up to summit Mt. Baker in honour of the fallen constable.
Davidson was killed while responding to a report of a stolen car in November, 2017. His accused killer, Oscar Arfmann, is currently standing trial on a charge of first-degree murder.
Abbotsford Police Chief Mike Serr, who will be joining the hike, said the journey is being scheduled for the third week of August, and will involve a private memorial for Davidson at the mountain’s peak.
“One of our officers here who is quite adept at doing some some hiking and climbing was approached by John just previous to his death and John had wanted to go hike Mt. Baker, so they had some preliminary discussions about doing it the summer after John passed,” said Serr.
“Unfortunately John was never able to complete that hike.”
WATCH: A hero’s sendoff for Const. John Davidson
Serr said that officer later approached him to do the hike anyway, but as a memorial instead.
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“It really just sort of took off from there. I contacted John’s children and they were really excited to do that,” he said. “They had not known about their dad’s wishes to do Mt. Baker.
“Mt. Baker, for us in Abbotsford, it stands so prominently over our city and looks over us. We thought it would be a neat way to go the top, do a memorial of some sort, and have John always looking down on our department and on our city.“
There will be about 15 people on the three-day expedition, including some of Davidson’s family, members of Abbotsford police and Abbotsford Search and Rescue, a member of Abbotsford Fire Rescue and the officer in charge of the Langley RCMP — a detachment Serr credited with stepping up to help when his department was at its lowest point.
WATCH: RCMP Musical Ride pays tribute to fallen officer
“Langley immediately was here first, almost instantaneously, to support us which we’ve never forgotten,” he said. “So having them there will be special as well.”
Serr said the substance of the memorial at the summit of the 3,300-metre peak will be kept mostly private out of respect for Davidson’s family, though he did share one idea that’s being floated.
“We have a coin for John Davidson, and if there is a way that we can find a way to leave the coin out up on the mountain for John in a way that’s not going to be disruptive for people, then that would be something we’d like to do,” he said.
“So that we know that there’s always that memory of John up at the top of the mountain.”
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