An endowment bearing the name of a fallen RCMP officer is being rolled out by a Lakeland school. Portage College announced Friday that the Leo N. Johnston Award will now be a financial endowment given to qualifying students.
The original award was first handed out back in 2005 for what the school calls “academic achievement for students registered in programming that lead to further their education in a law enforcement related field of studies.” 45 students have received it since then.
RCMP Constable Leo Johnston was one of four officers from the Mayerthorpe detachment killed when executing a search warrant on a farm back in 2005. The incident was at the time the worst multiple-officer killing in contemporary Canadian history.
Johnston was originally from Owl River, just 20 minutes north of Lac La Biche. His first RCMP posting was in Lac La Biche before moving to Mayerthorpe.
On March 3rd, the 15th anniversary of the tragedy, the school will commemorate the fallen four officers.
