Chaplain Program | City of Brandon

The Chaplain for the Brandon Police Service serves as a confidential spiritual and emotional resource person to the officers and staff at the Brandon Police Service and their families. This position is one forged in trust through a working relationship with police officers and staff. The Chaplain provides Member care regardless of one’s spiritual background and maintains a network with other faith ministries to liaise resources to satisfy officer’s personal faith preferences. The Chaplain offers public prayers at ceremonial functions, engages in personal visits with officers, staff and families at work, home or hospital, and provides personal prayer for peers upon request. Through a membership with the Brandon Ministerial Association, the Chaplain meets with religious leaders from various denominations on a regular basis for prayer for BPS Staff and for the City of Brandon.

The Very Reverend Don Bernhardt has had the honour of serving the Brandon Police Service as their chaplain since 2024.

Don was born in Winnipeg but grew up in Stonewall, Manitoba. From an early age, he had an interest in policing. When he turned seventeen, he joined the Canadian Forces 17th Military Police Platoon at Minto Armoury in Winnipeg. He completed his basic training at Minto and then received his police training at the Canadian Forces School of Intelligence and Security at CFB Borden, Ontario. Don remained with his unit until 1981, leaving as a Master Corporal.

In 1980, Don joined the Morden Town Police where he served as a constable for two years before being hired by the Brandon City Police in 1982. He spent the next seven years in the patrol section before being asked to take on the responsibility of implementing the department’s first computer aided dispatch and records system, called CHIEFS, which became operational in 1991. In 1993, Don was offered a transfer to the City’s Information Technology department where he worked on various computer systems throughout the organization.

During his time in the IT department, Don realized that ministry was where his true vocation lay. He received an associate’s degree in theology from Thorneloe University in 2003 and continued his studies at Brandon University, moving from a Bachelor of Science (Computer Science) to a Bachelor of Arts (Religion), graduating in 2006.

While attending BU, Don was ordained as a priest in the Anglican Church of Canada in 2005. In 2006, after graduation and leaving the IT department, Don took a position as rector of St. Mary’s Church in Virden Manitoba. He was also responsible for churches in Elkhorn and Sioux Valley. In 2016, he was asked to return to Brandon and take on the role of Dean of the Diocese of Brandon. In that role, Don was responsible for services at St. Matthew’s Cathedral while also assisting the bishop in the administration of the diocese.

It was in 2024, that Don, with the encouragement of former chaplain, Bruce Ewanyshyn, took up his position as chaplain for the Police Service, returning to the department some thirty years after leaving. Don sees his role as a spiritual friend and listener, offering a ministry of presence to all members, staff and families, regardless of their faith traditions. He believes that a chaplain walks alongside those who need support, in good times but also in those not-so-good times and is grateful for being allowed to take part in this amazing ministry.

Don has two adult children, Joshua and Jenny, and fondly remembers his wife Heather who passed away in 2024.