ESTEVAN - Sherese Tardif-Cress is proud to be a woman in law enforcement, working as a detector dog handler for the Canada Border Services Agency.
And she is also proud to work as a mentor.
Now she has been recognized for her efforts.
Tardif-Cress, who works out of the North Portal border crossing, was the recipient of the Saskatchewan Women in Policing’s Mentoring and Leadership Award.
SWIP, along with the Ministry of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety, announced award winners for 2022 last week. She said the award came as a surprise, and she was shocked just to learn she had been nominated.
“It is a delight … to receive this recognition, especially from such a great organization and such a strong group of women,” said Tardif-Cress.
A co-worker in the CBSA nominated her. At the ceremony, the information in the nomination package was read out, so Tardif-Cress heard all sorts of kind words.
“What it boils down to is the work that I do as a detector dog handler, but also a border services officer, with helping out newer officers start their career, and training them about how to work with the dog,” said Tardif-Cress.
She was the first female dog handler for the CBSA in Saskatchewan, which she believes was a factor in her receiving the award.
Tardif-Cress started her career with the CBSA in 2007 and came to Saskatchewan in 2009. Her initial focus was on immigration, so she dealt with complex cases. She became an instructor for a course in which she taught other officers how to handle such cases as deportation and removing people from Canada who aren’t supposed to be here.
“When I became the detector dog handler, I actually created a training program that I go through with all of the new recruits coming into the area, where I teach them how to work with the dog and what the detector dog program brings to assist them,” said Tardif-Cress.
CBSA later secured funding to get a second detector dog because of the work that was happening in Saskatchewan. A woman was hired to be the handler of that canine.
“We went from never having a female dog handler in Saskatchewan, to me being the first one in Saskatchewan, to them having two female dog handlers in the province,” said Tardif-Cress.
Each day means she gets to work with her dog Chase, which she believes is the best job in the agency.
“They’re just wonderful creatures, and getting to work with my partner Chase is really, just in itself … rewarding,” said Tardif-Cress.
Chase is a black Labrador who is nearly five years old. The two have been a team for four years.
While they work out of North Portal, they can be deployed to any CBSA land crossing in Saskatchewan, and they also tend to the airports in Saskatoon and Regina.
Detector dogs can make officers’ job more efficient. She can run Chase around a vehicle in a matter of minutes, where if an officer has to do it, it could take hours or even more.
“And besides that, it’s frankly just fun. To be able to work with the dog, everything we do is positive reinforcement only.”
Their job is to find drugs and guns, and then he gets rewarded.
It’s also a special feeling to be recognized by SWIP, which has worked tirelessly to get established.
“It’s just amazing to see how these women of all different levels in law enforcement can come together, and to see the work that they accomplish, it’s nothing short of a grand feat,” she said. “Just to know that we have that community here of women wanting to empower other women or people who identify as women, it’s just so important,” said Tardif-Cress.
And she was thankful to hear the praise of women in law enforcement from Christine Tell, who is the Minister of Corrections, Policing and Public Safety.
Women working in law enforcement remain the minority, so to know they have each other’s support is vital to Tardif-Cress.
The award came at an important time for Tardif-Cress, because she is 37 weeks pregnant. The barriers that women still face in law enforcement are real, she said, and it doesn’t need to be that way, because women can do amazing things and bring abilities, talents and qualities to law enforcement.
An awards ceremony was held on May 12 to congratulate Tardif-Cress and the other winners: Caitline Lee, a conservation officer with the Provincial Protective Services Branch, received the Officer of the Year Award; Robin Petkau, a constable with Regina Police Service, earned the Lifesaving or Critical Incident Award; and Monica Deters, a supervisor of intelligence analysts with the RCMP’s "F" Division, was presented with the SWIP Civilian Mentoring and Leadership Award.
