A first woman at the helm of the Châteauguay Police Department

For the first time its history, the Châteauguay Police Department will be led by a woman. Ginette Séguin will officially take office on April 20th; she will become one of the rare women to hold this high-level position. 

Ms. Séguin’s passion for the blue uniform began at a very young age. “It’s rare for people to say so, but by the age of about seven it was clear to me that I was going to be a police officer,” she confided to the newspaper.

The 51-year-old woman admits that she came from a difficult background and that she experienced many hardships during her youth. “I grew up in Montreal’s Hochelaga-Maisonneuve neighbourhood and police were often called to intervene at home. That’s when I realized the difference they could make for people.”

Carving out a place

During her studies at the École Nationale de Police du Québec, there were still very few women in the law enforcement sector: of 224 future officers, only 24 were women, explained Ms. Séguin. That wasn’t particularly intimidating for her, having often held positions in spheres that were almost exclusively masculine. Following her studies, she worked in Montreal’s Metro and at Hydro-Québec before being hired by the Sûreté du Québec (SQ)).

She began her career as a police officer in Havre-Saint-Pierre, in the Côte-Nord region, and her subsequent postings led her to work in several locations, including Abitibi and Montreal, for close to three decades. She has held positions as a commander, chief inspector and director of several districts and departments.

An opportunity in Châteauguay

After having retired from the Sûreté du Québec, the Mercier resident for the past 26 years joined the Châteauguay Police Department in 2021 as an inspector of auxiliary services and organizational development.

“I love working with the next generation, on training, developing strategic planning and on the community component. I had already experienced a bit of that during my career and when the call for applications for the position of Director or Police Services opened, I decided to apply!” recalled the person who will take the reins from Stéphane Fleury, who spent 10 years as Director of the Châteauguay Police Department.

Community-minded

At this time, it is essential for the new director of police to learn and continue to dialogue and communicate with local stakeholders.

“You can’t get everyone to like you, that’s for sure, but people have to be able to remove that wall that is the uniform, there needs to be a connection in order to know the person behind the bulletproof vest,” she said hopefully.

According to the police officer, citizens are increasingly wanting to be part of the solution and that will be a sizeable challenge. “I want our citizens to tell us exactly what they would like to see as a police department here. Our institution needs to be the reflection of today’s population with all its different communities and gender identities; we can’t stop evolving because things change so quickly.”

Ms. Séguin also promises to take care of her officers. She knows that it is not an easy profession and that they don’t always experience pleasant situations on a day-to-day basis.

More women

Ginette Séguin thinks that it is important to encourage women who are interested in becoming police officers. “When I entered the SQ, I was the 160th woman out of 3,200 officers. You have to show your colours right away, don’t change to become more manly, we all have our own qualities and we should keep it that way.”

According to Officer Nadia Grondin, a socio-community officer within Châteauguay’s Police Department, currently 25% of the police corps is composed of women.

For her part, Nathalie Bastien, administrative assistant at the Association des Directeurs de Police du Québec (ADPQ) noted that there has been a growing trend of women becoming directors over the past few years.  

In Quebec, the first person to occupy the position was Linda Ouimet at the Blainville Police Department; she retired in 2017 after 30 years of service. At this time, in addition to Ms. Séguin in Châteauguay, the Sûreté du Québec is led by a woman, as is the Repentigny the police department.