Around 20 people participated in a Brant County OPP recruitment information session and women-focused shuttle run fitness event, in St. George on Saturday, May 31, 2025.
The premise of the event was to provide participants with an opportunity to learn more about the OPP hiring process, the Constable Selection System and the various career paths available within the organization.
While it was open to anyone who was interested, the event was women-focused (including those who identify as cis, trans, AFAB or non-binary).
“Today we’re looking to recruit women from within our communities that are interested in a career in policing,” said Andrea Quenneville, the newly appointed Superintendent for the OPP West Region headquarters. “We are eager to tell them about the many opportunities within the OPP across the province, and to give them an opportunity to try the shuttle run, which is also known as the ‘beep test,’ to see how their fitness is measuring up with our standards.”
Quenneville said that after the OPP noticed a drop in the number of women in policing in recent years, the organization started to look for ways to expand its recruitment efforts.
“We looked at our numbers in 2024 and saw a decline in the number of women in policing, and in an interest to make it a topic of conversation for women, we decided to go ahead and put this initiative on,” she said. “So we’ve partnered with our detachments in Haldimand and in Oxford, who ran initiatives in the last month as well, and it’s really been a way for us to ensure women consider this as a career opportunity.”
Quenneville went on to say that having diversity within the police force enhances the overall day-to-day operations of the OPP by bringing a range of different perspectives.
“You know, I can’t imagine policing without women; women bring different perspectives, different approaches, and different experiences that support our engagement with the community,” she said. “And so we wanted to have that conversation and also just have people understand the different perspectives that they bring, and that the diversity in their life and in their backgrounds, is what we’re looking for. You don’t have to have specific training around policing to get into this career and so we want to have people understand that their skills are actually transferable. There’s also so many areas within policing that they’ll find their groove and find a spot that fits them.”
To kick off the event, participants took part in the 20-metre shuttle run, where they ran back and forth across a marked track, keeping pace with the beeps that progressively got faster as they went on. Those who successfully completed Level 7 or higher, received a certificate confirming their fitness prequalification for the OPP application.
Following the run, the group headed upstairs for a recruitment presentation.
Cst. Michelle Smith and Cst. Sylvie Gagnon spoke about the OPP, its different regions, duration postings in northern communities and civilian career opportunities (such as non-uniform roles, Special Constables and the Auxiliary unit). They also went over over 100 specialized positions within the OPP, as well as application requirements, salaries and benefits, the hiring process and recruitment training.
Following their talk, Cst. Aleisha Lusk, one of the first female officers to join the OPP’s Canine Unit as a full-time handler, spoke to participants about her journey from studying to be a doctor to pursuing a career in policing.
After the presentations, attendees had the chance to ask several officers about the job, the application process, and what a day on the job is like and the importance of communication.
Sukhnet Mand and Vibhuti Tyhei, who traveled all the way from Brampton to partake in the event, said that it was very informative.
“Having a lot of officers that come from different backgrounds and careers, was very helpful,” said Mand. “It was nice to have my questions answered and everyone was just so nice.”
“It was also great to have female officers and it kind of gave me that boost of, ‘okay, if they can do it, I can do it,’ so it was really nice to have them here,” added Tyhei.
When asked what they thought of the shuttle run, the two said it was an eyeopener.
“It was difficult, I was so close to making it to Level 7,” said Mand, with a laugh. “I’m definitely going to continue working on my stamina though because as they pointed out, being fit enough to keep up with everything is really a non-negotiable.”
Tyhei added that while they may not have been able to complete the run, neither of them will give up.
“I’m just going to keep working at it,” she said. “That was the other nice thing about today and the officers sharing their stories… just because you may get rejected once, who cares, it’s not the end of the world, right? You just have to try again and persevere.”
Kimberly De Jong’s reporting is funded by the Canadian government through its Local Journalism Initiative.The funding allows her to report rural and agricultural stories from Blandford-Blenheim and Brant County. Reach her at kimberly.dejong@brantbeacon.ca.
