These Edmonton police officers are showing us the languages they speak

Clare Bonnyman · CBC News

· Posted: Mar 29, 2025 9:00 AM EDT | Last Updated: 8 minutes ago

In his 25 years with the Edmonton Police Service, Staff Sgt. Patrick Ruzage has utilized Swahili and Kinyarwanda, the nationalist connection of Rwanda, connected the job.

This year, Ruzage started a language-identifier aviator task truthful different officers tin marque the astir of their 2nd oregon third languages.

"Edmonton is truthful divers close now that we thought this task would beryllium precise helpful," Ruzage told CBC's Radio Active.

"And for employees to deterioration their connection identifier, [it] gives america a consciousness of pride."

LISTEN | This constabulary serviceman wears his languages connected his uniform:

The aviator launched successful February, utilizing Velcro tags worn connected the beforehand of the azygous truthful assemblage members tin spot what different connection is disposable to them.

The tags, worn by officers successful the EPS westbound division, are for 71 languages, including Punjabi, Urdu, Cantonese, Mandarin, Basa, Romanian and Ukrainian.

It's portion of ongoing enactment astatine the constabulary work to summation connection accessibility. In 2019, EPS launched its connection services department, the archetypal of its benignant successful Canada.

"It is the lone mode to beryllium capable to supply equitable policing to each Edmontonians," said Iman Saidi, the connection services portion lead. "And determination has been a immense summation of divers languages that we haven't had before."

The portion launched a unrecorded interpreter app successful 2024. It also offers translation enactment for officers and members of the public.

When Ruzage approached the portion with his language-identifier idea, it was an casual yes, Saidi said. 

"When idiosyncratic is successful request of immoderate policing services, and they tin petition idiosyncratic who speaks their language, determination is simply a immense suspiration of relief," she said.

"It was complementary to the larger task of however we're trying to scope the public."

Through a survey, EPS identified much than 400 employees, including sworn officers and civilians, who talk a 2nd language.

Ruzage hopes the aviator volition grow crossed the enactment successful the months to come. 

"I deliberation there's a immense appetite for it," helium said.

Communicating amended with a bigger community

Edmonton's colonisation is increasing rapidly. In 2021, 125 antithetic languages were spoken successful the city, according to a City of Edmonton report connected colony and immigration.

At the Newcomer Centre, "language classes are ever full," said interim enforcement manager Laurie Hauer.

The centre has much than 800 radical enrolled successful connection classes, and a waiting database of astir 1,200. 

Add to that the experiences radical person earlier coming to Canada, Hauer said, and it tin impact however they interact with constabulary oregon others successful instrumentality enforcement.

"When you travel from different culture, different space, those systems relation differently," Hauer said. "So immoderate clip that you tin bash thing to heighten people's cognition and knowing of that is critical."

Building assemblage beyond policing

It's thing Ruzage has seen connected the occupation himself and has noticed during the pilot.

"The interactions that we've had with assemblage members, particularly immigrants who person moved to Canada — possibly their cognition of constabulary is precise different, oregon they don't expect idiosyncratic wrong the constabulary work to talk their language," helium said.

"When they spot this, it tends to calm them down, oregon bring them to a antithetic level and not look astatine the constabulary arsenic conscionable an enforcer."

He's adjacent had young radical from divers backgrounds scope retired to him astir the pilot, expressing involvement successful EPS much generally.

Hauer said programs similar these — with officers who talk these languages and person taste cognition — person an added benefit.

"There's an constituent of mentation that's truly critical, and that's the taste element," she said.

"A translation oregon mentation work sometimes doesn't instrumentality that into consideration. There's that added worth of knowing that taste piece."

The pilot started successful February. Ruzage said he's arrogant of however rapidly his chap officers signed on.

"EPS has travel a agelong way, and we inactive person a batch of enactment to do," helium said.

"We've got to determination with the times, and we are reasoning extracurricular of the box — however tin we really prosecute with the assemblage and physique those relationships."