Steinbach RCMP Sergeant Joanne Ryll

Royal Canadian Mounted Police accepted their first female troop 40 years ago in September 1974.

Sergeant Joanne Ryll explains the Commissioner at the time, RCMP Commissioner M.J. Nadon made the announcement that the decision had been made to hire females as regular officers within the RCMP. On September 16, 1974 the first troop of 32 women arrived in Regina to start six months of training and graduated six months later on March 3, 1975.

Ryll joined the RCMP on April 15, 1980, just five and a half years after the first female troop and feels it was more the norm, noting the novelty at the training academy had worn off. She graduated six months later in October 1980.

“The training was the same as the male members, there was no difference. The standards weren't lowered,” explains Ryll. “We were a troop of 32 females together, there were no males in our troop. At times there was some competition between the female troops and the male troops because we wanted to prove that we could do it and do the same thing in training as the men.”

Ryll comes from a background of policing, noting her father was a police officer and says she was born and raised with police officers around her. Next month will be 34.5 years since she first joined the RCMP and says she's enjoyed every minute of it.

“There are days that are better than others but that's in every job. If I was to look at the bright side of things, yea, it's been a very rewarding career. I'm at the tail end of it but I wish and hope that everybody else has the same opportunities that were given to me throughout their career.”

There are other professions where women would have never been thought to enter, but Ryll says the walls have come down and females are now accepted and here to stay. She notes female officers have gone through the same training as male officers and are expected to do the same thing.

Ryll adds, including herself, there are presently four female officers at the Steinbach RCMP detachment.