‘There wasn’t a dry eye in the place’
Const. Heidi Stevenson memorialized in Caribbean retreat
In February of 2020, RCMP Const. Heidi Stevenson looked forward to spending a week in the sun on a white-sand beach in the Caribbean with her husband, two children and mother.
She had made plans for her family to join close friend and fellow officer Cheryl Ponee, of the Annapolis District RCMP, for a fitness trip at the Sanctuary at Grand Memories Varadero resort in Cuba planned for late April 2020. Ponee, who is also a fitness instructor for several resorts in Cuba, organized the trip through her fitness business NRG2GO.
The family’s vacation plans never materialized. On the morning of April 19, 2020, Stevenson was killed in the line of duty while pursuing a lone gunman during the deadliest mass shooting in the province’s history which claimed the lives of 22 people and an unborn child in Colchester and Hants counties.
Ponee cancelled the event after Stevenson’s death. It could not be rescheduled in 2020 and 2021 because of COVID-related travel restrictions. But Ponee wondered if the planned fitness event could be resurrected to bring grieving family, colleagues and friends together in a relaxing tropical environment to memorialize Stevenson.
Last month, 71 family members, retired and serving RCMP from Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Ontario and British Columbia, joined with friends of Stevenson at the same resort for the Const. Heidi Stevenson Memorial Fitness Trip. After two years of planning and delays, Ponee had arranged a week of events, including daily workouts on the beach and poolside, gala dinner events and live music and entertainment. It was an opportunity to enjoy each other’s company in a relaxing environment and share their sense of loss while remembering their fallen loved one and comrade.
For Ponee, it was meant to honour and celebrate Stevenson’s courage and dedication to the RCMP. It was also a cherished opportunity to honour their decades of friendship and shared service.
“Heidi and I crossed paths while at Acadia University together back in the early 90s. We had known each other for 24 years, with us both being rookies in Cole Harbour at our first detachment out of depot,” Ponee shared on social media before leaving for Cuba to prepare for the memorial.
“Heidi then went on to teach English in Japan, join the Musical Ride, get married, have babies and we reunited in Enfield detachment together before she lost her life to save others,” Ponee said.
“She has many close friends of countless years that are struggling today. There is a certain bond amongst women in the RCMP that is hard to explain unless you are one. Heidi’s death has rocked me to the core and not a day goes by that I don’t think about what she did and the hero she is.”
‘A HARD WORKER’
“She was just a wonderful woman. A hard worker and a dedicated police officer. It’s very, very unfortunate what happened … society lost a great person,” 30-year RCMP veteran Sgt. Angie Hawryluk, who served with Stevenson in Cole Harbour from 2013 to 2015, said during an interview after returning to Nova Scotia from Cuba.
Hawryluk said the memorial was a chance to share a sense of pride and camaraderie with fellow RCMP. Especially her female colleagues.
“There is nothing easy about the job whether you are a female or a male. But there are some added stressors as a female. A lot of us are moms,” Hawryluk said. “There is an understanding amongst us.”
EMOTIONAL EVENTS
During an interview after returning to Nova Scotia, Ponee said participants gathered on the beach for a group photo wearing specially made red tank tops emblazoned with the slogan “Nova Scotia Strong” as well as the date of Stevenson’s death and her regimental number.
“There wasn’t a dry eye in the place,” Ponee said. “When everybody saw that sea of red heading to the sand, I think it just hit everybody. After the photo people didn’t say anything. They just went around and hugged each other and cried.
“I think it hit everybody really hard but it was also very healing because it was something positive that showed how much she meant to colleagues and friends and family that 71 people would come there to celebrate her life.”
Also, before a speech by Stevenson’s husband, Ponee presented a check to Stevenson’s children for $4,200. The donations came from an online Mountie Monday Fitness Class fundraising event Ponee hosted through NRG2GO last year to support the children in their future endeavours.
“She was really looking forward to retirement so she could devote herself to her kids,” Ponee said. “She had served 23 years when she was killed.”
PRIDE AND MEMORY
Stevenson’s mother, Avon Brophy, said during an interview the gathering was emotional for her.
“I remember saying to my niece, who I was sitting beside, the vibe in the room was so wonderful. You could feel the love among everybody,” she said.
“I’m sure every single one of them puts themselves in Heidi’s shoes. Any time they lose a member I’m sure they all think, ‘that could have been me.’ They think of their own children without their mother or a parent,” Brophy said.
“It was extremely heart-warming. I found it very healing. And I feel like I have a whole lot of new friends.”
Brophy said she was proud of her daughter’s accomplishments. However, she remembers being shocked by a letter she received from her daughter while Brophy visited friends in Costa Rica.
“Well, Mom I now know what I want to do as a career and you better sit down for this,” Stevenson, who had worked part-time as campus police while a student at Acadia, wrote in the letter.
“She said, ‘I want to join the RCMP,’” Brophy remembers.
Brophy said her daughter had also been accepted into a master’s degree program in kinesiology. Stevenson had chosen her thesis adviser and area of study and set a deadline to choose between the two careers.
Brophy said Stevenson received the call notifying her of her acceptance into the RCMP just days before the deadline. Stevenson was on a plane to Regina to begin her training a few days after being notified of her acceptance by the RCMP.
NOT THE LAST TIME
Ponee said this would not be the last Const. Heidi Stevenson Memorial Fitness Trip.
“I didn’t know if I was going to do it again. Or if it is something the family would want me to do again,” Ponee said. “But the family all approached me, especially her kids, and asked me to do it again next year. I am doing it again next year and I already have a waiting list of people.”