CBA 2016: Denise Fraser wins Education award

For 30 years Denise Fraser was the Sudbury police service’s special weapon in crime fighting. As school liaison officer, she taught children how to stay safe, to respect the law, and to be good citizens.

A previous CBA winner in the education category, Anna Maria Barsanti, says, “Denise’s days were filled with mentoring, monitoring and educating the youth of Greater Sudbury” in JK to senior high school classes at all four school boards, “influencing millions of lives.”

One of the lives touched by Fraser was Hally Willmott’s.

She says, “My first introduction to Denise was a presentation she was giving at an elementary school I attended. It happened to be the sixth school for me in as many years. I was the outsider in a room filled with youth. There were at least 75 young impressionable souls sitting in great anticipation.

“As a young person I believed wholeheartedly she was speaking directly to me – and in a way I found out she was.”

Willmott is now a constable and the school resource officer with the Greater Sudbury Police Service.

Fraser says she has empathy for troubled youth but no sympathy for those who use their circumstances as an excuse for bad behaviour. She has walked the walk.

As a young child, she lived in a series of abusive foster homes from the time she was four years old. She changed schools many times and got a reputation as a troublemaker.

“I was so hurt…I became hardened and I became a big bully.”

Her Grade 6 teacher told her she would be in jail or dead by the time she was 18.

“The teacher, Mme Rose, took time for me. I think she was the only person who noticed I was alive…She helped me a lot.”

Fraser turned her life around and became a survivor. By the time she was a teenager, she had a job and was living on her own, steering her own course.

She married and had four children. Later, as a single mom, she worked at several jobs including selling insurance and real estate. She saw an advertisement for the crime prevention officer in the newspaper.

“People told me I couldn’t do it because I was a woman. I applied because nobody tells me I can’t do something...I am stubborn. It was the best move of my life.”

“Denise’s goal from the beginning was to leave no child behind…making each and every one of them feel just how special, unique and valuable they are,” says Barsanti.

“She teaches values, helps people discover their moral compass, and through her influence they make some pretty tough choices.”

Fraser retired in 2014. She and her second husband, gemologist and photographer Greg Taylor, enjoy outdoor activities, travelling and boating.

The couple have a blended family of six children and 13 grandchildren. She is keeping very busy.

“I am checking things off my bucket list,” she says. “Life is good. I miss the kids though.”