This northern Ont., school hopes a new partnership with OPP will keep kids away from drugs, organized crime
Northwestern Ontario school board is looking to protect kids from increased drug, gang activity in the region
Students will notice a new face roaming the halls of Dryden High School in northwestern Ontario, as an Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) constable opens a new office within the school.
Earlier this week the Keewatin Patricia District School Board (KPDSB) announced a new partnership with Ontario Provincial Police (OPP), with the aim of fostering positive relationships between youth and law enforcement.
"Our small communities, you know, there's a lot of distractions, especially Dryden being on the Trans-Canada Highway and so close to everything from drug trafficking to human trafficking corridors," explained Christy Radbourne, director of education.
"It makes it really important for us to ensure that kids feel engaged, that they feel a part of their community, that they see this as a place they can stay," she said.
Constable Ron Fults of the OPP Dryden Detachment has been named the school's Community Engagement Officer. It's a new role, and will be his primary assignment.
"He's a really unique individual who has worked with the school board and students for a long time, and he's a really community oriented individual," said Radbourne, talking about Fults.
Dryden is located over 350 kilometres northwest of Thunder Bay, Ont., and has a population of over 7,000 people. Even though it's considered a smaller community, over 500 students attend Dryden High School, many of whom come from surrounding communities and First Nations.
LISTEN: Dryden High School launches Community Engagement Officer Program with OPP
Fults is expected to be a support to students, while engaging with the school community and participating in extracurricular activities.
The role is similar to what was once called a "school resource officer" in Ontario, but Radbourne says it's been re-imagined in some ways.
"There was a time, I think if you look back across the province, they were located in schools for a long time. I think there's been just some real negativity associated with that," she explained.
The Ontario legislature passed a motion in December 2024 for the Ministry of Education to encourage and support all publicly funded school boards in partnering with police services through community school liaison office (CSLO) programs.
This motion followed the removal of such programs from many school boards right across the province over the last number of years.
Some advocacy groups point to studies, like one commissioned by the Greater Essex County District School Board to review its school resource officer program, that show marginalized students tend to be negatively impacted by the presence of police in schools.
On the other hand, the Ontario Gang Investigators Association and the Police Association of Ontario have highlighted the critical role that CSLO programs play in preventing exploitation and supporting at-risk youth.
At Dryden High School, Radbourne said the hope is to foster positive and trusting relationships, before students have the chance to experience any negative interactions with the justice system.
"Small communities across northwestern Ontario are experiencing an influx of drugs and human trafficking due to a lot of migration out of our larger centres, both coming from Winnipeg and Toronto. So we're hopeful that we can give kids the right support so they're not susceptible to those kinds of influences when they come to our communities," she said.
Radbourne said recent surveys within the school community highlight bullying and recreational drug use as issues among students, and the hope is the community engagement program will interrupt those trends as well.
The OPP said the program has been over a year in the making, and the hope is the program will evolve moving forward.
"We look forward to engaging and strengthening relationships and making a positive difference during the school season and during summer break with new summer programming currently in development" stated Adam Illman, Dryden Detachment Commander.
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With files from Sarah Law