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‘Very moving ceremony’: Large contingent of Sarnia police attend slain Toronto officer’s funeral

There were some blurry eyes around Sarnia police headquarters Thursday morning.

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There were some blurry eyes around Sarnia police headquarters Thursday morning.

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“You may have noticed that some of us are a little bit more fatigued today than we normally would be,” board member Paul Wiersma said during their meeting inside a boardroom at the Christina Street North facility. “That’s because we had an opportunity to attend the funeral of Const. Andrew Hong.”

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Thousands of police officers from across Canada and the U.S., dignitaries and loved ones packed the Toronto Congress Centre Wednesday to pay respects to Hong. The 48-year-old veteran officer was shot dead last week in what has been described as an ambush attack.

“It was a very, very moving ceremony,” Wiersma said.

Acting Insp. Michael Van Sickle estimated a total of 40 Sarnia police officers and staff made the six-hour roundtrip to pay their respects.

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“Which I think equates to probably close to over 30 per cent of our employment here, which would rival any other organization’s attendance,” he said. “The bigger organizations obviously attend with more numbers but, proportionally, we were well-represented.”

A group of about 40 police officers and staff were at Wednesday’s funeral service for slain Toronto police Const. Andrew Hong. (Sarnia police)
A group of about 40 police officers and staff were at Wednesday’s funeral service for slain Toronto police Const. Andrew Hong. (Sarnia police)

A London police spokesperson said Thursday via email they sent a group of approximately 40 staff, including their chief and deputy chief.

“The Toronto Police Service is truly grateful for the support of all emergency responders and the community,” Const. Cindy Chung, a Toronto police spokesperson, said via email.

Chung said of the approximately 8,000 people at the service, about 3,000 were from police forces outside Toronto.

“It gave some officers who have come to us from other services, including Toronto, to reconnect with some individuals who were grieving there yesterday,” Van Sickle said.

A total of 89 police forces, including approximately 300 motorcycles from 25 different organizations, had motor squads represented, Chung said.

“It was a very impressive and emotional tribute to Andrew Hong,” she added.

“All in all it was an incredible event,” Van Sickle said.

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A group of Sarnia police officers also went to Hamilton in October 2014 for the funeral of Cpl. Nathan Cirillo, a soldier who was gunned down as he stood ceremonial guard in Ottawa. About two months later, the Sarnia force was rocked by the sudden loss of one of its own officers, Const. Patrick Nahmabin.

-with files from The National Post and The Canadian Press

tbridge@postmedia.com

@ObserverTerry

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