A memorial honouring police officers killed in the line of duty has added two names from northwestern Ontario.
Wilford Fairles died in Rainy River after being attacked and shot at in 1910.
Fairles was working with the Canadian National Railway but was called upon to be a Special Constable to deal with the surge of people displaced from their homes due to forest fires and coming to Rainy River.
The 26-year-old was severely beaten by unknown assailants and left to die on the side of a road.
Found barely alive, he was transported to Winnipeg, Manitoba for treatment but died two months later.
“Though he may not have envisioned himself as a police officer when his community needed him the most, he answered the call. In the end, he paid the ultimate sacrifice, trying only to keep his community safe,” says Colin Woods, president of the Ontario Police Memorial Foundation.
Former Thunder Bay Constable Craig Town was also honoured at a ceremony in Toronto.
Town died two years ago from complications as a result of injuries sustained in an incident in 1991.
Town and other officers were dealing with the arrest of an individual at the police station when he began to scuffle with officers.
During the struggle, the person managed to seize Town’s firearm and shoot the Constable twice.
Town survived, but the incident left him a paraplegic.
He continued to work and enjoyed a 30-year policing career before retiring in 2023.
“Craig met his new reality with courage and resilience,” says Woods.
“Knowing affectionately as Robocop to his colleagues at home, he continued to serve as a source of strength and pride for his colleagues and his community. He returned to this very ceremony many times paying tribute to fellow officers, even as he bore the weight of his own sacrifice.”
The ceremony honouring the two fallen officers was part of the annual Ceremony of Remembrance, organized by the Ontario Police Memorial Foundation.
The ceremony pays tribute to Ontario officers who died in the line of duty.
It was attended by uniformed officers from across Canada, the United States and Europe.
