Your old police chief is now Cornwall's top cop
Bonjour from the North — three cities, one corridor, and the stories that don't make it south of Barrie.
Okay, listen, this one is a bit wild, non? You remember Hugh Stevenson, our former top cop here in Sault Ste. Marie? The man who was Chief of Police for, what, five years? Well, he's just been named the new chief of the Cornwall Police Service. You might remember he tried his hand at federal politics after he retired from our force, running for the Conservatives in the last federal election. Didn't quite work out for him there, but it seems he's found his way back to policing, just in a different corner of Ontario.
### The Northern Connection
It's funny, eh? You see these connections across the province. You spend years in one place, become a fixture, and then boom – you're off to another community. Cornwall, c'est pas Sault Ste. Marie, pas du tout. Different feel, different issues, though I bet some of the challenges, especially around things like mental health and addiction, are pretty similar. That's a Northern Ontario problem, but it's an Ontario problem, full stop. I'm just thinking about our discussions around the new Planet Youth program Algoma Public Health is trying to get going here to help our youth. Every community needs strong leadership on these issues.
* **Sault to Cornwall:** A big move for a familiar face in law enforcement.
* **Political detour:** Stevenson's run for federal office was a local story here.
* **New challenges:** Cornwall will have its own set of unique policing needs.
For us here in the Sault, it's a reminder of the people who shaped our city, even for a few years, and then moved on. Stevenson was a known quantity here, visible in the community. It’ll be interesting to see how he takes to life down in Eastern Ontario. We wish him all the best, and maybe he'll remember some of that Northern grit he picked up while he was here.
Marie-Ève and the team are digging into this and more every morning – catch them live at mornings.live.