RCMP Members serve across Canada in communities large and small, from coast-to-coast-to-coast. Their career may take them to all new provinces, and all new communities where they get to establish new connections. For others, their careers come full circle, and they return home to the community in which they were born, raised, and called home.
This was certainly the case for Cst. Andrea Cumby, whose career took her across Canada, and ultimately back home to Labrador.
Andrea’s story is more than reflection on a career in law enforcement — it highlights the importance of connections: to community, to country, and to the people who make both worth serving.
A Window to the World
Cst. Andrea Cumby’s grew up in Mary’s Harbour, a small isolated coastal community in Southern Labrador with only a few hundred residents. There were no roads connecting the town to the outside world. Travel meant planes, snowmobiles, or boats.
Andrea developed resilience, adaptability, and a deep respect for the strength of close-knit communities. In places where opportunities were limited and privacy was scarce; community connection was everything.
Andrea’s journey into policing was shaped early. In her small coastal town, the arrival of new RCMP officers often provided a rare window to the outside world—sparking a curiosity and a sense of purpose that would stay with her and bringing new perspectives, experiences, and a broader understanding of life beyond the coastline.
“I felt I had more to give,” she shared.
Policing, she realized, was a career where she could make a difference, and do a little bit of everything. It also offered something more: the opportunity to see the country, to serve in diverse communities, and to grow through challenges.
Cst. Andrea Cumby and her spouse Brad Rumbolt are both Members of the RCMP, and together they have raised two grown children. Their oldest son served in the Canadian Armed Forces, while their youngest pursued a career as an industrial electrician – continuing a strong family tradition of service, hard work, and dedication.
Today, Andrea brings a community-focused approach to policing—grounded in lived experience and a genuine understanding of rural and remote realities. They are committed to building trust, fostering relationships, and supporting the safety and well-being of the communities they serve.
Building a Life Through Service
Andrea joined the RCMP in her early 30s after completing a diploma in law enforcement and administration. By then, her husband was already serving and posted in Saskatchewan. She wrote her policing exam at the detachment where he worked, and the RCMP accommodated her placement so they could begin their service together.
Her first posting was in Canora, Saskatchewan, a dramatic shift from growing up near the ocean. Wide-open prairie skies and seas of grass replaced the coastline. But what didn’t change was her approach: get involved, embrace the community, and learn everything you can.
General Duty policing there was formative. The friendships she built became lifelong bonds. When you serve far from where you grew up, your colleagues become your family.
From Canora, she transferred to Onion Lake Cree Nation. During her service she worked in a demanding operational environment involving complex investigations and frontline policing. It was in Onion Lake where she reconnected with and embraced her Indigenous identity, further strengthening her sense of purpose and commitment to serve.
Later, she returned to Labrador, and moved to Natuashish, a small fly-in community on the North Coast of Labrador. After two years the posting transitioned into a rotational schedule – two weeks in and two weeks out. There, the pace was slower, but the responsibility was just as significant. She and a small team of Members relied heavily on community officers — local partners whose knowledge and trust were essential.
In these communities, you don’t just police. You integrate. You listen. You build relationships.
Coming Home to Labrador
Andrea is now back in Labrador, serving in Happy Valley–Goose Bay, in a role with Community Policing, Crime Prevention, and Victim Services, a position that perfectly blends enforcement with education, outreach, and connection.
No Two Days the Same
In General Duty, a “typical” day might include responding to a disturbance at a hotel, assisting with a domestic dispute, transporting prisoners to court, conducting patrols on local trails by snowmobile, or completing fingerprints and record checks.
It’s unpredictable. It’s fast-moving. It requires adaptability.
In Community Policing, the rhythm shifts. The day might involve visiting schools, organizing safety presentations, attending daycare visits with emergency vehicles, participating in community walks for important causes, or simply showing up consistently at local events.
The goal is simple but powerful: be present.
And that presence matters.
A Circle on the Beach: An Impactful Moment
Andrea’s work in Labrador also brings unique experiences that enhance learning, and connections.
In Natuashish, Labrador, during a National Day for Truth and Reconciliation event, nearly 80 community members, many wearing orange shirts, walked from the school down to the beach. They formed a massive circle, hand in hand.
Andrea stood among them wearing a ribbon skirt. Children reached for her hands, pulling her into the unity circle.
“In that moment,” she reflected, “they saw me not just as a police officer, but as someone who was there for them.”
For someone who grew up berry picking, travelling by boat, cutting firewood, and embracing the land in ways deeply familiar to the community she served, the connection felt genuine. It wasn’t about the uniform or the authority. It was about shared humanity.
That circle on the beach was more than symbolic. It was trust built over time.
Resilience and Heart
Policing in Northern and remote communities isn’t for everyone. Andrea emphasized the importance of research and honest reflection. These postings offer extraordinary experiences, but they also require resilience.
“You have to be able to adapt,” Andrea said, “and you have to bounce back.”
Isolation, high responsibility, and constant change can test even the strongest individuals. But for Andrea, they also shaped her.
Her well-being comes from returning to what grounds her: getting out on the land, breathing in the ocean air, snowmobiling into the woods for a boil-up, cutting wood and toasting bread over a fire. She paints with acrylics, a quiet, meditative counterbalance to the demands of the job. She bakes, tackles home projects and prioritizes rest. These simple acts aren’t just hobbies, they’re restoration.
The Quiet Moments That Matter
Andrea is driven by a genuine commitment to people, community, and making a difference where it matters most. She measures success by the trust she builds, the relationships she fosters, and the impact she has on those she serves.
Hearing a child in a crowd say, “I want to be like her when I grow up.”
That’s what stays with her.
To know she’s made a positive impact. To serve as a role model. To be someone young people can look up to.
That’s the legacy she’s building — one call, one conversation, one community at a time.
Andrea Cumby reminds us that policing, at its best, is about far more than enforcement. It’s about presence. It’s about resilience. It’s about stepping into unfamiliar places with open eyes and an open heart.
From a little girl growing up in an isolated coastal community to rediscovering her roots and serving communities with purpose in the RCMP.
And sometimes, that journey leads you right back home.