The Team Ten Eight Podcast

Jas Dhillon, a former professional football player and current police officer, shares his journey from the football field to law enforcement. He discusses the excitement of draft day and the challenges he faced transitioning from a defensive player to an offensive lineman. Jas highlights the importance of teamwork, resilience, and determination in both football and policing. He emphasizes the need...

In this conversation, Necole Belanger shares her experiences as an openly gay woman in the Canadian Armed Forces. Necole talks about the importance of language skills in the military and the respect given to French-speaking troops. She reflects on the French-English question in the military and the challenges faced by Francophone members. Necole also discusses the impact of the Purge, a period of...

Summary Brendan Hynes , a military veteran and advocate for mental health and brain injury research, shares his journey of resilience and service.  He discusses the challenges he faced during his military career, including failures and injuries. Brendan emphasizes the importance of seeking help and the support of loved ones in overcoming mental health issues. He also highlights the need for better...

In this episode, we revisit an interview with a remarkable individual, Shawn Coady, a retired Vancouver Police Department Sergeant, Canadian Armed Forces veteran, and the founder and president of the Police and Peace Officer Memorial Ribbon Society . Shawn's life has been one of service, dedicated to his community, law enforcement colleagues, and his country. After an illustrious career, Shaw...

Summary In this episode, Christian sits down with John Vintar , an author and Army officer who has served in the Canadian Armed Forces for over 30 years. The conversation revolves around Vintar's book, ' A Swamp the Size of Belgium ,' which details his experiences in South Sudan. They discuss the history of Sudan and South Sudan, the challenges of peacekeeping missions, the impact o...

Surrey Police Service Sergeant Andrea Martens has over nineteen years of experience across a range of law enforcement professions including as a probation officer, a border services officer and police officer.   Andrea joins us to talk about her career path into policing, some of the progressive programs her department has put in place to foster a culture of health and wellness, and what it's...

Kathleen Dias writes features and news analysis on topics of concern to United States law enforcement professionals serving in rural and remote locations and you can find her published work at RuralBadge.com and Police1.com She uses her background in writing, teaching and marketing to advocate for professional levels of training and equipment for rural officers, open channels of communication for...

Scott McGregor  is a former Canadian military intelligence professional who has advised the Royal Canadian Mounted Police on trans-national organized crime and hybrid warfare threats, as well as the former Attorney General and BC Premier David Eby in the lead up to the Commission of Inquiry into Money Laundering in British Columbia . Scott maintains an extensive network of intelligence contacts th...

Dr. Olivia Johnson is a United States Air Force veteran, a former police officer, and published author.   She holds a master’s in criminology and criminal justice from the University of Missouri, St. Louis, a doctorate in Organizational Leadership Management from the University of Phoenix, School of Advanced Studies and is considered a subject matter expert in police officer health and wellness, p...

Sergeant Julien Ponsioen began his policing career with the Metro Vancouver Transit Police in 2014 after a 21 year career as a Paramedic and Supervisor and was the first openly gay male police officer hired by his department and the only openly gay male in his police academy class.   Moving from patrol to Neighbourhood Policing in Downtown Vancouver, he began to connect with his community both in...

Daniel Sundahl (a.k.a. Dan Sun) is a former advanced care paramedic and firefighter, a published artist and writer who has produced  three art books and whose writing has been featured online and, in several periodicals, including Canadian Paramedicine, the Journal of Emergency Medicine (JEMS), Fire Rescue Magazine, EMS One, EMS World Magazine, The Canadian Journal of Emergency Nursing and the Fin...

Deven Kennedy is a police officer on a mission.  On June 12, 2022, he was involved in a traumatic incident while on duty that shook his faith in his career and himself and led him down a path of desperation and despair, as so many trauma exposures have done to so many others.   Through his recovery, Deven learned that fitness and a variety of healthy lifestyle choices were complimenting his psycho...

Mark Bouchard began his law enforcement in 2007 serving fourteen years with the Delta Police Department before transferring to the Royal Canadian Mounted Police and now serves as an Emergency Response Team operator and tactical medic in British Columbia’s North District.  He earned his master’s degree in leadership from Royal Roads University for his research on the impact of police culture on pol...

Barbara Karnes is a registered nurse with more than 40 years of experience in hospice care.  She has held both clinical and leadership positions, including staff nurse, clinical supervisor, and executive director at Hospices and Home Health Care agencies and is the author of Gone From My Sight , "The Little Blue Book" , that remains the most widely used educational booklet on the signs o...

Dr. Alika Lafontaine is an award-winning physician, the first Indigenous doctor listed in Medical Post’s 50 Most Powerful Doctors and the first Indigenous president of the Canadian Medical Association .  He has served in medical leadership positions at the Alberta Medical Association , the Canadian Medical Association, the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada , and as the vice-presid...

Archie Alafriz spent the majority of his 27-year RCMP career working in the National Security Program where he investigated a myriad of listed terrorist entities including Hamas, Hezbollah, al Qaeda, al-Shabaab and ISIS and was the team lead in Canada's landmark terrorist fundraising case.   Since his retirement from policing in 2018, he published his first novel, Inoculum ; an intelligence-b...

Mike Morris spent 32 years as a member of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police retiring as Superintendent of British Columbia’s north district.  Following his retirement, he was elected as a Member of BC’s Legislative Assembly in 2013, 2017 and 2020. From 2015-2017 he served as Minister of Public Safety and Solicitor General and has been heavily involved in several committees overseeing policing in B...

Lieutenant Colonel Phil Halton is a Canadian Armed Forces veteran who has served in Bosnia, Ethiopia, Denmark, Norway and Spain.  He holds an honours degree in military and strategic studies from the College Militaire Royal de St-Jean; a Masters degree in Defence Studies from the Royal Military College and a Master of Arts in Creative and Critical Writing from the University of Gloucestershire.  ...

Elenore Sturko is Canadian Armed Forces and Royal Canadian Mounted Police veteran who has served in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and in Langley and Surrey, British Columbia.    In 2022, she was successful in her bid for a seat in BC’s legislature representing the riding of Surrey-South and now serves as a Member of the Legislative Assembly and Shadow Minister for Mental Health, Addiction, R...

Troy Clifford began his service career with the British Columbia Ambulance Service in 1988 and has worked in a range of patient care roles across BC including dispatching, training and education, emergency management, advocacy, and currently serves as a Unit Chief in Osoyoos, BC. He is a recipient of the BC Ambulance Service, Chief Operating Officer’s Commendation for exemplary achievement for Lea...

Sergeant Jim Ingram is a twelve year member of the Delta Police Department and overseas the DPD’s Public Safety Operations Group that includes their Emergency Management/Disaster Response unit, Tactical Support Group, Drug and Firearms K9 Teams, Violence Suppression Team, and their Community Safety Officer and Reserve Constable programs. He is also responsible for developing and rolling out the De...

Chief Warrant Officer (ret’d) John Barnes is a decorated Canadian Armed Forces veteran who has served all over Canada, in Germany and in operations in Cyprus, the Persian Gulf, Croatia, Bosnia, and Afghanistan.  He was awarded the Sacrifice Medal for being wounded in battle in Afghanistan, the Meritorious Service Medal for exceptional leadership under enemy fire and, in 2009, was appointed to the...

Wally Oppal is a former trial attorney who has served as a special prosecutor on numerous high profile commercial crime and drug offences and more than 50 homicide cases.  He served as a judge in the County Court of British Columbia from 1981 to 1985, and in the B.C. Supreme Court from 1985 to 2003, when he was appointed to the B.C. Court of Appeal.  He has led two commissions of inquiry into poli...

David Cassels is a former Canadian Police Chief and public safety consultant who has supported and consulted domestically for federal agencies including the Department of Justice, Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian International Development Agency, and internationally where he was responsible for the formation of the South East Europe Police Chiefs Association and completed a detailed review o...

Mubin Shaikh is a former undercover human source for the Canadian Security Intelligence Service (CSIS) and former police agent with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) who has worked multiple infiltration operations including the VERY public prosecution of the Toronto 18 terrorist cell.  Mubin also holds a Masters Degree in Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism (MPICT, Macquarie), is a...