Meet Thunder Bay Police Service's new chaplain: Deborah Kraft

A well-known leader of Thunder Bay's spiritual life has taken a new community under her wing.

Deborah Kraft was officially sworn in as chaplain for the city's police service on July 9.

Kraft has been the Anglican Archdeacon of the Thunder Bay-North Shore Deanery since 2011, and was the priest at St. Paul's Anglican Church from 2005 to 2023.

Kraft spoke with Mary-Jean Cormier, the host of Superior Morning, about her history with the police service and how she plans to provide support.

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.

Mary-Jean Cormier: You've been working with police for a number of years now, including leading the annual national police and peace officers memorial day service. How did that relationship with police begin?

Deborah Kraft: It began when I started presiding at our annual police memorial service when we honour all those who have served in Canada and honour those who have died in the line of duty. But we like to say with the police that the police are heroes in life, not death, because as you know, they do so much for us every day, They walk into danger to serve and protect.

MC: How has that relationship played out in the years that you've been working with police?

DK: This has been a huge privilege for me. They came to me at the beginning of COVID and they hadn't had a police chaplain serving in Thunder Bay since Father Mike, who passed away in 2010, and they decided it would be important to have a chaplain again to serve their spiritual needs and to support them.

They asked if I might be interested in this. They had polled the police service and they thought that this would be a good idea, and I've been privileged and honoured to be with them for the last five years.

It was very difficult during COVID because I couldn't meet them or do very much with them. But over the last couple of years it's really expanded and it's just such a huge privilege for me to do this. This is a volunteer position as are most chaplains in Canadian police services, and something I find really interesting is that in Canada it's not called a police force, it's called a police service, because this is their role — to protect everyone in the communities in which they are serving.

MC: How are you able to serve the officers and the members of the police service when they need you?

DK: I go every week to a 7 a.m. briefing before the officers go out on their 12-hour shifts, so I get to know them that way. I send a chaplain's message out every week on e-mail and at the bottom of it is all my contact information.

I've been working with the peer support supervisor, Lana Brennan, and she will alert me when someone's in need. People sometimes phone me directly and let me know they might like to speak with me. Everything they say to me is confidential. As we're getting to know each other, it's working out really, really well. 

They deal with some really difficult situations, and however I can support them, it's very important to me. This is very ecumenical. I'm not there to convert them to Christianity. I'm there to honour them any way I can. 

MC: Can you give me a sense of the nature of the types of things that people need to talk to you about?

DK: I think number one is burnout. The work is very challenging, whether you're a civilian at the police service or whether you're sworn. I think the numbers are about over 250 sworn officers and about 140 civilians working in the Thunder Bay Police Service, and the work is very stressful, it's very difficult, and they face situations for which they have to make very quick judgments.

I've been impressed with the integrity and the trust that they show the community and they show each other there. They work really hard about being very inclusive and the more I get to know them the more respect I have for each and every one of them at how hard they work and how much they care. 

MC:As well as being that support in very stressful situations for officers, is there anyone you're able to call on who's in a similar role who perhaps can help you? 

DK: There is the Canadian Police Chaplains Association and I've taken their mandatory chaplaincy courses and there are people throughout Canada as chaplains that I'm in touch with as well. Our Archbishop for the Diocese of Algoma, Archbishop Anne Germond, she used to be a chaplain for the Sudbury Police Service, so she's someone else I speak with, so I make sure I'm able to debrief with enough people so that I have support.

MC: What do you draw on to keep yourself going, to stay involved in this way? 

DK: Well, I think in life we have choices and I think every day when we can wake up, we can choose to focus on the hard times in our life or we can choose joy. Every morning when I wake up, I intentionally choose joy. I choose to be joyful. It's based on my life of prayer, which is important to me for my faith in God. So, for me a spiritual presence is what keeps me going and means so much to me. 

Everybody has a different way of keeping going and what gives them strength. I really like being outdoors. I think nature is very important to me. My family is a tremendous source of support for me and they've always been supportive for me of my work and my continuing ministry.

MC: Are there any stories of strength and inspiration that you hold on to or you share with the folks who come to you?

DK: There's so much courage in this world where people give of themselves and of their compassion and their empathy and that is really wonderful for me. 

One thing which has really made me feel very present with other people is three years ago when my husband and I were fulfilling our bucket list. We were walking the 800-kilometre Camino de Santiago in the north of Spain. You start in France and my husband was a very fit runner and we'd walk 700 kilometres. Six days from finishing, he suffered a massive ischemic stroke. And I feel so very blessed. My church insurance eventually brought us home but it's been really, really tough for him. So, to watch his courage and inspiration for me as his caregiver has been a very important source of strength for me. To watch him rise up from the ashes of what has happened for him.

I see this with so many people. I work with a lot of Indigenous people in northern communities and when I see the struggles they have and how they seem to be lifted up out of those very, very tough times is just hugely inspirational.