New NBPS board member's background considered an asset

The chair of the North Bay and Area Community Drug Strategy committee is hoping her background will be of assistance to the North Bay Police Services Board.

Pat Cliche was officially sworn in at this week’s board meeting as its new provincial appointee replacing Bill Hagborg.

“I made an application to the police board and I was successful.”   

This is Cliche’s second time serving on the board, the first time was for two terms back in the late ’90s when George Berrigan was the chief of police.

“It has been a long time. So hopefully I can bring some help to the police board. I am looking forward to it. I hope I can help out with the crisis with the drugs because as you know we work on it with the drug strategy.”

Although she no longer works at the hospital, Cliche brings with her years of experience as a nurse in the emergency department.

“I’m hoping that we can help with the post-traumatic syndrome. I’m hoping I can bring some insight to that.”

Cliche acknowledges there is going to be a slight learning curve as she settles into her new position on the board.

“It has been a long time since I’ve been on the police board. The drug strategy was a learning curve. Working with Constable Brad Reaume was a big learning curve for me. He has me invested in that field of learning all about the opioids. He has been a great teacher. With all that kind of knowledge that he has brought to me, I am hoping I can bring some of that to the police board.’

See related: Local cop honoured for his efforts fighting the local drug addiction problem

Deputy Police Chief Michael Daze welcomes the expertise Cliche brings to the table.

“Anytime we have any expertise that comes on to the board, and having a range of skills and experience on the board, is helpful for our guidance. The chief has been very active in trying to look at the opioid crisis and those drug strategies. And I’ve seen from early days that North Bay is actually a very engaged community in trying to work with some of those strategies. So, the experience and input Pat will bring to our organization is just a great benefit for us, and we’ll certainly take all of that,” said Daze.

“It is not a crisis that police alone can solve. It has to be a collaborative effort that I would argue sits not just within a city, but now we have to start looking provincially and nationally at what we are doing to target it and move in a more unified direction forward to try and address the problems.”