Byron Hardy and his adult son, Andrew Hardy, have lived in the Swan Valley for several years now, with Byron semi-retiring from his work in policing and Andrew joining the local Emergency Medical Service (EMS).
Byron started his career as an RCMP member, going through training in 1982, but spent the majority of his career with the Saskatoon Police. However, at 63 years old, he’s made the choice to rejoin policing as an RCMP member, making him and his son first responders at the same time, and soon in the same jurisdiction. While Byron has been recently serving in the Ste. Rose detachment, he will be soon serving shifts in Swan River this fall.
Andrew started working as EMS locally 12 years ago and has been going strong since.
“When I grew up, my dad was a cop and my buddies were firefighters and other cops and paramedics,” said Andrew. “I was kind of always around that whole emergency world and I’ve always been interested in it.”
At one point when the Hardys were living in Calgary, Andrew was exposed to some medical training while working security alongside ski patrol in Canada Olympic Park, which is part of what incepted the idea in his mind to join the world of EMS. It was in Calgary where he first became a licenced paramedic before moving to Swan River and getting licenced in Manitoba.
“I’ve always kind of been interested in it since high school,” said Andrew, noting his dad’s initial reservations, because of when he was nine years old and went to a blood donation clinic with Byron and saw the needle go into Byron’s arm and fill with blood.
“At that moment, everything went looney tunes and the floor went vertical. (Dad) thought I was a bit too woozy with blood, but I think I’ve gotten over that and I’ve been okay since.”
With Andrew growing up as a cop’s son, he always saw his dad as the classic hero cop. He would hear stories about what Byron would do on shift sometimes, but his perspective shifted a bit once he joined the first responder world and experienced it first hand.
He added that the two of them have not worked a call together since Byron joined the police force, but noted that when he has noticed him on the street, Byron was happy to be back in that world.
“Once a cop, always a cop,” said Andrew. “I could never lie to him ever, he was a walking lie detector. He had that cop mentality and I was never scared to go with him anywhere.
“It’s cool that he’s back in it now because I’ve never seen him in an RCMP uniform because he quit before I was born. I only ever saw him in Saskatoon Police uniforms.”
Even though Byron may have had some concerns about Andrew’s brief childhood blood aversion, he said otherwise was never concerned about Andrew joining a first responder role.
“My wife, Darlene, and I raised our children to have that warrior mentality,” he said. “When I say warrior, I mean paramedics, policing, firefighting and all those front line guys like nurses and doctors too. Even though we seldom use that term ‘warrior’, that’s really what some of those front line people are.
“I know Andrew has a reputation for being a very good medic and know some of the calls he’s gone to. I think sometimes paramedics in general don’t realize what they go through. There have been calls where they save people’s lives and the general public doesn’t hear about that. It’s good to see these guys out in the street, especially Andrew and the level of professionalism that he has and as good as he is at his job.”
While nobody hopes for a bad call while on shift as a first responder, both Byron and Andrew look forward to being called out together for the first time when they are both on shift in Swan River. Byron even double-checked when Andrew was working around the time when Byron returns to work in Swan River so he could ask to work the same shifts.
Andrew noted that the times he and his dad have been on a call together in the past was when Byron was working as a chaplain, and he got suited up with basically everything but the weapons.
“I started my chaplaincy with Calgary Police Service in 2009,” said Byron. “Calgary is large enough to have several, and with different faith backgrounds.
“I came back to Swan River in 2018, and enrolled into the chaplaincy in 2019, but for the Manitoba Veterans Association. (The job) is all about spiritual care, not even as much faith-based as much as spiritual care. We would phone these guys every six months and ask them how they were doing, and that would be a piece of it as well (in addition to going on calls).”
As a chaplain, sometimes even active members would consult with Byron to get his take on things, given that he has multiple decades of experience in policing.
Byron comes from a Christian faith background, and naturally raised his children in that faith as well. With the two of them being in roles that can be intense or traumatic, they find their faith is at least part of the reason why they can stay grounded and focused on the work they do without too many negative impacts.
“Some of the guys I work with don’t have that faith component and several of them are still grounded and have pretty level heads, but I think there’s the additional component that faith brings,” said Byron. “That’s one of the reasons chaplaincy is involved in policing, firefighting and paramedics, is so that those guys can have that outreach as well.”
Byron recalled a moment when he was working in Calgary when a member of the police service took her own life, and he helped perform the funeral as chaplain
“When you go to a funeral and it is a faith-based funeral, you’re able to at least speak hope into people’s lives,” he said.
Both Byron and Andrew enjoy their respective jobs and feel well-suited to their roles.
“I know it’s cliche, but I like to help people,” said Andrew. “We have saved some lives, but when it comes down to it, it is difficult to do that successfully. I feel like it takes a certain mentality to do that job and a lot of people don’t handle it well.”
Andrew added that he also likes that he is empowered with the tools and the skills to help people as best as he can where they are, acting as a mobile emergency room, to give people their best chance.
Andrew even likes the shift work and working nights.
“Most of the calls seem to come in at night, based on how society works,” he said. “I like the pace of the night shift. Things are kind of low key. Also, having four days on and four days off is sweet.”
For Byron, who has worked in policing off and on since he was 20 years old, he finds policing to be second nature to him.
“The thing that I have found that has been super important is that this job forces you to work out and stay in shape,” he said. “Certainly not everyone has that mentality, but my older brother and I are in our 60s and we push each other to work out and stay in shape. He’s still doing major case management with the RCMP as well, and was a high-ranking officer with the Mounties.”
Byron added that he had a stint as a full-time teacher during his break from policing, and he found teaching to be more stressful and more difficult than policing.
Andrew also added that whenever he picked up his child from daycare, he also didn’t know how people managed that many children that were not their own, even though he can handle the three boys of his own when his wife isn’t around.
With Byron back in policing, his family agrees that he is back in his happy place and he has communicated with Andrew that he is having fun, doing what he is meant to do.
And, soon enough, both of them will be on shift protecting and healing the streets of Swan River and area.