Brian Strongman has always volunteered — from being a Cub Scout leader to serving on the board of Federal Retirees. Photo: Dave Chan
As he nears his 80th birthday in November 2023, Brian Strongman, a former RCMP inspector and long-time member of Federal Retirees’ board, remains committed to leading a life of service.
“I guess I always liked the idea of serving the public,” Strongman says. “In the RCMP, I was protecting the rights of citizens — and after my retirement from the force, I worked on forensic efforts to achieve justice in such places as the former Yugoslavia.”
Strongman has also been a stalwart of the association’s national board. He was named a district director in 2014, representing British Columbia and Yukon. Two years later, he became chair of the advocacy committee, playing a significant role in the development of the association’s overall strategy.
He and his family were itinerant during his years in the RCMP, but he currently lives in Nelson, B.C., with his wife, Donna. His wish to help has always extended to his local community. In years past, he has led Cub Scout groups and coached soccer.
At university, Strongman studied photography as part of a fine arts degree, but after graduation, partly inspired by several friends who had joined the RCMP, he made a successful application to join the force. His mastery of photography became a great asset as he was channelled in the direction of forensic work. “I suppose that, because of photography, I got into forensics ‘through the back door'," he laughs, “but I’m glad it happened. I enjoyed the work and the contribution it makes to law enforcement.”
He remembers when his forensic work assisted prosecutors in achieving a conviction in a murder case in B.C. A young woman had been murdered, cremated on a funeral pyre and then buried. “I can’t call it pleasant work, but it’s necessary,” he recalls. “We had to use anthropological techniques and special mapping and gridding methods to build evidence, but the work resulted in a conviction.”
In 1999, recently retired from the RCMP, he served as a project manager for the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.
“I was tasked with leading the first Canadian forensic group into Kosovo after the Yugoslav war. We were recovering and analyzing human remains before they became contaminated.”
The work wasn’t easy. As he told CBC News in June of 1999, “Over the last 30 years, I’ve attended hundreds of scenes. But I’ve not had to deal with anything on this scale …. You almost become cold and callous about it to deal with the stress.”
Today, he takes satisfaction in having taken part in an attempt to obtain justice in war.
After retiring from his UN service in 2001, he joined B.C. Branch 13 of the National Association of Federal Retirees, serving as health benefit officer, secretary-treasurer and later president.
He has served three terms on the national board since 2014.
“What we’re doing, including protecting the pensions of federal retirees, seems really important to me,” he says. “I’ve enjoyed the work, just as I’ve enjoyed the many connections I’ve made.”
He’s still deciding if he will run for a fourth term on the association’s board. Things do get less predictable when one is on the cusp of 80, but he laughs when told he doesn’t sound anywhere near that age.
“I don’t feel that age at all,” he says. “That’s part of why I volunteer, I think. It does give a lot of satisfaction.”