Corporal Elenore “El” Sturko joined the RCMP in 2009 following a family tradition going back to the 1950’s. The past decade for her has been an adventure in policing which wound its way from coast to coast to coast. That adventure eventually lead her to become the spokesperson for the RCMP’s largest detachment in Surrey, BC. 

El is a member of the LGBTQ2+ community and is the great-niece of Sergeant Dave Van Norman, a Mountie who was forced to resign from the RCMP in 1964 as part of “the purge” – a period of time when the Canadian government sought to expunge LGBTQ2 Canadians from the public service. She is passionate about sharing her family’s story and offers a unique perspective on being an LGBTQ2+ person in the RCMP. 

In her presentation, “A Tale of 2 Mounties”, El discusses the interesting parallels between her and her great-uncle and the remarkable differences between the outcomes for their careers. 

El speaks to her experience and journey to reconcile what it means to be an LGBTQ2+ Mountie, and the RCMP’s role in “the purge”. 

El currently lives in beautiful Surrey, BC, with her wife Melissa and their 3 kids.

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