Olivia Gater, Social Navigation Coordinator with the Thunder Bay Police Service, has become an essential bridge between policing and social care, ensuring that vulnerable individuals connected to police interactions receive the support they need to stabilize their lives. Through compassion, innovation, and relentless advocacy, Olivia has transformed how the Thunder Bay Police Service connects people in crisis with meaningful community support.
In her role, Olivia works closely with sworn members across several investigative areas including Intimate Partner Violence, Human Trafficking, Missing Persons, and Major Crime. She provides case management and advocacy for victims while ensuring that all individuals involved with police—victims, witnesses, or accused—are connected with appropriate social, health, and community services that address the root causes behind many police interactions.
Since assuming the role in 2023, Olivia has dramatically expanded the reach and effectiveness of the program. Referrals have increased by 1,000% between 2021 and 2025, with an average annual growth rate of 82%, demonstrating both the demand for and success of her approach.
Recognizing gaps in available services, Olivia created two internal programs, ReconnectU and InReach, both of which she developed and continues to lead. ReconnectU supports individuals leaving custody through structured case management, helping them reconnect with services and supports that reduce the likelihood of returning to crisis situations. InReach was designed to address referral gaps and supports individuals of all ages, including children, ensuring that officers can focus on investigations while underlying social needs are addressed. Olivia also leads the Quick Connect program, a partnership between the Thunder Bay Police Service and Lutheran Community Care, which allows officers to refer individuals who do not require enforcement but urgently need social supports.
Olivia’s work frequently involves highly complex and vulnerable individuals whose lives have been directly changed by her advocacy. In one case, she worked with the Missing Persons Unit and Dilico Anishinabek Family Care to support a 15-year-old youth who was being trafficked, struggling with fentanyl addiction, and frequently running away from her group home. Olivia prepared detailed advocacy letters to the Crown outlining the urgent need for a stabilization period in custody so the youth could safely detox and access medical and educational supports. The judge specifically noted the importance of Olivia’s recommendations when approving the remand. During this period the youth stabilized, returned to school, and ultimately gained access to specialized treatment where she is now thriving.
In another case, Olivia supported a vulnerable arson victim who was non-ambulatory, living with COPD, and facing imminent homelessness after being displaced. When housing supports were initially denied, Olivia coordinated with the Thunder Bay Regional Health Sciences Centre and successfully advocated for hospital admission under a “failure to cope” designation, ensuring the individual received safe medical care while long-term assisted living arrangements were secured.
Olivia also assisted in locating a woman living alone in a tent following a Missing Persons investigation. By working collaboratively with the Indigenous Friendship Centre, Ontario Native Women’s Association, and Lutheran Community Care, she helped secure safe housing near Nipigon, respecting the individual’s wishes and connecting her with culturally appropriate supports.
Beyond individual cases, Olivia continues to strengthen community partnerships and trauma-informed responses. During Victims and Survivors of Crime Week, she wrote and secured a Justice Canada grant to lead a city-wide trauma-sensitive art therapy campaign, bringing together multiple support agencies in a safe, accessible environment for victims of crime. The event included Indigenous cultural practices such as a sacred fire and firekeepers and resulted in several survivors disclosing experiences of sexual violence and being immediately connected with supports they had not previously known were available to them.
Olivia also develops practical initiatives that address basic human needs, including grant-funded programs that provide weather-appropriate clothing to individuals leaving custody and transportation assistance during severe weather when transit options are unavailable.
Through innovation, collaboration, and unwavering compassion, Olivia Gater ensures that vulnerable individuals do not fall through the cracks of complex systems. Her work not only improves outcomes for individuals in crisis but also strengthens community safety and trust in policing.
For her extraordinary dedication and measurable impact within both the Thunder Bay Police Service and the broader community, Olivia Gater is a highly deserving recipient of the Police Association of Ontario Police Services Hero of the Year Award – On-Duty Difference Maker (Civilian Police Service Employee).
