A Wi Rockhilitakes OY} root in North Vancouver Anna Marie D'Angelo News Reporter adangclo@usnews.com CARLOS Rockhill has been a patrol constable with the North Vancouver RCMP for about a year. If you would have asked him about being a Mountie 15 years ago, you would not have Otten an answer. That's because Rockhill could barely understand you. He couldn't speak English well. The native Mexican didu’t master the language until alter studying ESL (English as a Second Language) at Capilano College. Rockhill’s story of how he ended up in Canada and a Red Serge officer in the country’s internationally-renowned police force is, as they say, a long story. “We don’t feel we have done anything special, This is just life for us,” said Rockhill, 34, speaking about his family’s journey here. It’s starts with Rockhill’s mother, Adelita. She was a divorced editor of a magazine in their hometown of Vera Cruz, Mexico. : Vera Cruz is a major Mexican eastern port south of Mexico City on the Gulf of Mexico. The main business in the area is oil production. In the early 1980s Adelita went to interview a Seaspan tugboat captain called Jim Rockhill. Rockhill, a North Vancouver resident, was in the Mexican port doing work affiliated with Mexico's national oil company, Pemex (Petroleos Mexicanos). Adelita and Jim started a romance. They married in 1983 in North Vancouver. Carlos was 19 when he came for the wedding, stayed a while and went home, leaving his siblings and mother here. At the time Carlos was in first year university with plans to be an engineer. In the next couple of years, Carlos came to realize the “differ- ent opportunities” that Canada offered. He aiso missed his moth- er and siblings. Carlos returned in 1985 to stay, He became a Canadian citizen in 1988. - . Carlos’ younger brother, Alex, now 27, and sister Rocio, 20, went to Ridgeway elementary and Argyle secondary. Carlos’ birth name was Juan Carlos Garcia Gonzalez. Jim wanted to adopt the Gonzalez children. They all agreed to become Rockhills soon after arriving in Canada. “He welcomed me into his family and he offered me to take his last name. 1 accepted it. He is a mice man,” said Carlos. He comes from an upper middle class family in Vera Cruz. “Most of his aunts and uncles work for Pemex as engineers, man- agers or supervisors.Carlos’ grandmother was a chef who had her own restaurant. Carlos did not have police officer on his list as a possible career in Mexico. : “It’s not considered a good job,” said Carlos. “There is a saying in Mexico, “If you can’t make it in the army, “you can always make it as a police officer’, which has a very low “connotation.” In Mexico, police officers are not paid well. Some take bribes and have a reputation for being corrupt. Residents distrust the lice. In 1991 in Canada, Carlos got interested in police work after she took a federal government summer youth employment pro- gram and worked with Vancouver City Police patrol officers. Carlos went to a military-style high school in Mexico so RCMP boot camp or depot in Regina was not a problem. “I was mature enough to handle the heavy workload,” he said. Carlos atready knew how to ride a horse although horse riding is no longer required for a Mountie job unless an officer wants 70 be part of the Musical Ride. ° Carlos spent a year at Coquitlam RCMP before transferring to North Vancouver. He is part of the RCMP ceremonial troop on the West Coast. He appears in Red Serge at public events such as conferences and paradgs. Why RCMP versus a municipal police officer? “Because the RCMP is a federal force. I could be transferred anywhere in the country and that appealed to me,” he said. .. One. of his short term goals is to go to an United Nations =- SUNDAY FOCUS untie fro — ct eae e ABRERABRS Ne MN bo. Gap College ESL Studenis motivated CAPILANO College offers ESL instruction to several hundred students a year. ESL department instructor Joan Acosta says ESL students typically are motivated and want to learn. “ESL students are wonderful to work with,” she said. Last fall, 328 students registered for ESL. classes at Capilano College. Spring enrollment was 281. The college has provided ESL instruction since 1979, The ESL students, past high school age, come from the community or are international students with visas. The students include people originally from tran, China, Korea, Japan and Latin American countries. Acosta said students include teachers, engineers and young people who wish to go into regular academic programs at Capilano College or university. She said that students who have had a good education in their native countries usually do well learning English quick- ly. ” Acosta herself was born in Guatemala and lived there until age 16. As an ESL instructor, Acosta remembers now-RCMP Const. Carlos Rockhill as being a “sparkplug” and a leader in class as well as an excellent student. “He is extremely fluent now,” she said. For the fast eight years, Acosta has been on special assign- ment in the ESL department where she writes, edits and desktop publishes a newspaper for beginner adult readers. The Westcoast Reader has a circulation of 95,000 in B.C. and is available free through Capilano College. peacekeeping mission in a Spanish speaking country. “All the (RCMP) members that have attended peacekeeping missions have come back better members and better persons all around. And of course it is an eye opener for many people,” he said. His long-term goal is to be a liaison officer in an embassy in a Spanish-speaking country. Carlos’ family in Mexico knows about Mounties through Sgt. Preston from the old American films and the television series Die South. - “They ask me if | run around in my Red Serge all the tme and ] had to explain to them, no it’s not like that,” said Carlos. Carlos did study English in Mexico. He says he knew Engtish as well as most of us know French after grade school here. ~ Sunday, July 30, 2000 —- North Shore News - 3 STS NEWS photo Mike Waketleld NORTH Vancouver RCMP Const. Carlos Rockhill never considered being 2 police officer while growing up in Mexico. He found out in Canada that being a Mouniile offered him an exceltent career. P.ockhill is shown in the East 14th Street detachment building. Carlos took ESL classes at Capilano College with instructor Joan Acosta, Avosta has a Spanish-speaking background and inspired Carlos to do well. “I could see that if she could do it, so could I,” he said. . He recalls his first visit to Stanley Park soon after he arrived in Canada in the summer of 1983. His mom's friends took the fam- ily to a picnic. Carlos decided to join the crowd swimming in English Bay. In Vera Cruz the temperature is in the 40s with no cooling down at night. You can go swimming outdoors all year round, With that in mind, Carlos hit the water of English Bay on a hot. Vancouver day. He got out faster than a novice Polar Bear swim- mer on Jan. 1. : “I saw people swimming. I chought it was great to swim, I ran into the water. That was my first total culture shock,” said Carlos. “E came out fike a rock skipping on the water. I could not believe it. That was my first clue E was not in Vera Cruz anymore.” Before he came to Canada, Carlos was riot aware of a thing called “visible minorities.” “Or much less that [ was part of one,” he said. Where he was from in Mexico, the divisions among people are more evident in economic rather than racial ways. Carlos said that he never experienced Any racism here, but his family had a relatively smooth transition to their new country with the support of his stepfather and his stepfather’s iriends and fami- h. * Jim and Adelita amicably separated about seven years ago. Carlos lives with his mother and siblings in a large house they” recently bought in Lynn Valley. They actively volunteer in Vancouver's Spanish speaking com- _ munity. Adelita has a radio talk show on Thursdays on CFRO FM 102.7 co-op radio. She is on the board of the Vancouver Radio Co-op and Latin American Alliance. Carlos likes to snowboard. (He learned to ski on Grouse). His other hobbies are cycling, hiking and fencing. He does the Grouse Grind “often.” Still true to his Mexican roots, Carlos prefers soc- cer to hockey. ; This year, Carlos is planning to learn French at Capilano . College, in part, to help him in his Mountie career goals.“ Carlos has a girlfriend who lives in Colombia, South America. He met her through her cousin, Vancouver City Police Const. Ana Jean Pacey, who is also a Spanish speaking officer. Pacey lives in North Vancouver. Carlos has no plans-to go back to Mexico permanently, although he would consider being a snowbird someday. ; “Our lives are now here. This is where we are going to stay,” said Carlos, “Like the writer said, You can’t go home again’.” Coming up in Sunday Focus MICHAEL Becker visits the Maplewood Mud Flats. In its four- and-a-half years of existence, the Wildbird Trust of B.C. has established the first wildlife sanctuary on. Burrard Inlet’s north. shore. The 75-acre site adjoins and protects the largest area of |” salt marsh and mud flats in the inlet.