TORONTO — The wall of honour at the Ontario Police Memorial outside Queen's Park now contains the names of two officers from Northwestern Ontario critically injured on the job over 80 years apart.
The late Thunder Bay Police Constable Craig Town, and Rainy River Police Constable Wilford Fairles – who died well over a century ago – were added to the memorial in a ceremony on Sunday attended by officers from across Canada and beyond.
In October 1910, Fairles was working as a Special Constable during a forest fire emergency in the Rainy River area when he was attacked by unknown assailants who shot and severely beat him before leaving him in a ditch.
He died in hospital two months later.
In 1991, Town sustained life-altering injuries from a gunshot wound that left him a quadriplegic after a prisoner grabbed his gun and shot him at Thunder Bay Police headquarters.
He overcame long odds and lived until 2023, just after turning 65.
"It was a miracle that he ever survived," his widow, Jillian Town, said in an interview posted online by the Ontario Police Memorial Foundation.
She recalled that when her husband started his policing career, he felt it was the best job he ever had, and that in his eyes "he'd really fulfilled his destiny."
Just two years later, that career ended in an instant, but his fellow officers and the people of Thunder Bay came together to support him and his family, which included two young children.
"They built us a wheelchair-friendly house with lots of volunteer hours, and just so much support from the community, and Craig was able to come home" from the hospital, Jillian Town said.
In an interview with Newswatch in 2013, Town said he felt no ill will toward the man responsible for his becoming a quadriplegic.
"At first I hated him, but after talking to my wife and discussing the whole situation. I realized hating him wasn't hurting anybody but me ... I sincerely hope he gets his life straightened out."
His wife recalled that "He became an even better person ... He changed that dedication he had to working on being strong and jogging to work every day, and applied it to building his soul and his spirit. Anyone that was down and out, or having a hard day, he would pray for all the time ... He even prayed for the man that shot him."
Thunder Bay Police Service officer Colin Woods is chair of the Ontario Police Memorial Foundation. "Every single name on that wall is important," he said.
"These officers, the men and women, have put the uniform on to serve the public, and they've given that ultimate sacrifice. So it's for their memory, what they did, and it's for the families too. We're honouring the families behind those people too."
Premier Doug Ford was among the dignitaries who attended Sunday's memorial service.
