Group plans school honour for fallen RCMP Gallagher

A group in Woodstock is getting together to build a vocational school in Haiti, in memory of Sgt. Mark Gallagher.

The RCMP officer was working with the United Nations, training Haitian police officers when he was killed in January's earthquake.

Richard Blaquiere, a Woodstock High School teacher and member of the group, said the school will teach skills that help residents find jobs.

Along with basic skills like cooking and sewing, the group also hopes to provide some trades training. "We're hoping electrical, carpeting, plumbing," said Blaquiere.

The group is partnering with a group of French nuns who run a primary-secondary school in the community of River Froid, about 40 minutes outside of Port-aux-Prince.

A group will meet in Haiti with the nuns, map out a plan when they return, "and then move forward with some serious fund-raising," said Blaquiere.

Gallagher, 50, had just returned to Haiti after a Christmas vacation when the earthquake struck. He had been stationed in Haiti since July, helping to train the national police force as part of a United Nations mission called Project Co-ordination, based in Port-au-Prince.

Prior to that, he was based in Halifax and acted as the RCMP spokesman for Halifax and the New Brunswick cities of Moncton and Bathurst.

He joined the Moncton police force in 1985 and became an RCMP officer in 1998.

Gallagher was the recipient of the Queen's Golden Jubilee Commemorative Medal in 2002 and earned the Police Exemplary Service Medal for over 20 years of police service.