60 Seconds With WO Joanne Lyster, Military Police Member in Yellowknife
Video / March 06 2025
Transcript
If you didn’t have to sleep, how would you spend your extra time?
Watching the Northern Lights. The Northern Lights are amazing.
Hi. My name is Warrant Officer Joanne Lyster with 1 Military Police Regiment. I’m the Detachment Warrant here in Yellowknife, Northwest Territories, and I’m here to take the 60 Second Challenge.
What’s unique about being an MP in Canada’s North compared to other regions?
From Yellowknife, we cover all three Territories in the North, so we have the biggest area of any Military Police detachment in the country.
How many CAF members are stationed at Joint Task Force North Headquarters here in Yellowknife?
There’s approximately 150 members here at the Headquarters, and almost 1800 across all three Northern Regions.
What’s the best part of your job?
The travel. I’ve been able to see some amazing parts of my country that I never thought I would get to see otherwise.
What’s something that you didn’t expect about working in Canada’s North?
The logistics. It’s very hard to get things done in some of the truly remote areas we work.
How long have you been living in Yellowknife?
I’ve been living here for about a year and a half.
Are there any challenges policing in either all day darkness or all day sunlight?
The long days and long nights can be hard on peoples’ mental health, so you’ve got to watch out for your team.
How is the culture in Canada’s North different from the rest of the country?
The North is very diverse and there are so many different languages spoken, even just hear in Yellowknife, and across the three Territories.
What kind of specialized equipment and vehicles do you use for policing in the Arctic?
We have a Military Police car that’s been adapted so that it runs here in the cold, and we also are qualified on snow mobiles.
And that’s the 60 Second Challenge.