Former OPP Deputy Commissioner Jay Hope was at one time the highest-ranking Black police officer in Canada who commanded thousands of policemen and women.

Hope worked for 35 years with the Ontario Provincial Police (OPP) before retiring in 2014.

He has held top positions including; Chief Superintendent and Regional Commander, Eastern Region: manager of the force’s Traffic Review Project: Director of Human Resources before being appointed Deputy Commissioner of Strategic Services in 2004.

“He was responsible for developing the OPP’s strategic vision, including Aboriginal and First Nations policing,” the force said.

He was also in charge of handling the OPP’s media and corporate relations, policy, training and municipal policing contracts.

Hope was recognized with an OPP Human Rights Medal for his work in the HR department.

He joined the OPP as a constable at its Emo Detachment in Northern Ontario in 1979.

“As he moved to progressively more senior ranks, he served in detachments in Toronto, Whitby, Aurora and Queen’s Park,” according to the OPP.

In the early 1990s, Hope served as a policy analyst for a Task Force on Race Relations and Policing and was a senior investigator for the Ontario Human Rights Commission.

Hope also served as Commissioner of Emergency Management Ontario and Commissioner of Community Safety.

For his work, he received the Order of Merit of the Police Forces from Governor General Michaelle Jean in 2006 “for outstanding innovative leadership in his profession and in the community” for forging ties between police and communities.

Hope has held numerous firsts. He was the first Black Canadian Deputy Chief Aide-de-Camp and OPP Deputy Commissioner. In 2008, he became the first Black Deputy Minister of Corrections and the second  Black Deputy Minister in Ontario’s history.

The OPP is one of North America’s largest deployed police services with more than 5,800 uniformed officers, 2,400 civilian employees and 830 Auxiliary officers.