Girl living with cerebral palsy appointed staff sergeant with Melfort RCMP

There was a new face around the Melfort RCMP detachment office.

On Wednesday,11-year-old Cadence Flaata was granted the role of staff sergeant. She lives with cerebral palsy and uses a wheelchair.

Wearing an RCMP dress uniform outside the Melfort detachment, she was given the traditional wide-brimmed Stetson hat and various patches by RCMP staff as decoration for her room.

“This is something Cadence has wanted to do for a few years,” her mother, Carla Flaata, said.

“She has always admired them and said she wants to grow up to be an RCMP officer. It’s great being able to see her do this.”

The new staff sargeant’s first order of business? Arresting her aunt Jackie Marshall for not visiting her enough.

The Flaata family led a convoy of media and RCMP to Jackie’s house to catch the culprit. RCMP even threw on their lights, without sirens, to sell the scene.

Marshall was taken back to the office and placed in a cell under Flaata’s supervision, and slet out minutes later for an interview.

This was not the first time aunt Jackie has been put in the slammer by Cadence.

For the last two years, they’ve taken part in the local Jail ‘n Bail fundraiser, where friends and family members are placed in jail and must fundraise to cover their bail.

“I guess I’m the chosen one in her life, so I know I’ll always be the one that gets arrested to raise money,” Marshall said.

“She strives every day to be something that we all need to look at, so we can get over, above and beyond the bondages of our lives, and that’s why I do it for her. It’s all about the love.”

Both Marshall and the Flaata’s thanked the RCMP for their efforts and for making Cadence’s dream of being an RCMP officer come true.