Source: Royal Canadian Mounted Police
In December of 2023, Cst. Jason Emmons with the Aklavik RCMP Detachment found that many youths in the community of Aklavik did not have adequate winter clothing for the cold weather. Cst. Emmons and his wife, Larissa Emmons, reached out to Columbia Sportswear to procure winter clothing for children in the community.
With the assistance of Toys for Tots Canada, Columbia Sportswear were able to donate 92 winter jackets for youth between the ages of 0 to 12 years old. Due to transportation issues, the clothing was not sent during the winter season. In April of 2024, RCMP National Headquarters in Ottawa were able to facilitate transporting the clothing from London, Ontario all the way to Aklavik in the Northwest Territories.
On October 7, 2024 Cst. Emmons, Larissa Emmons and Sgt. Michel Mignon attended the Moose Kerr School in Aklavik and handed out the new winter jackets. With the delay in delivery, new youths moved to Aklavik and some youths outgrew the size originally provided and as such were unable to receive their jackets. Cst. Emmons and Larissa worked on getting the new sizes which were recently received and distributed. In total, 120 jackets were given out.