Article content

When Ingrid Cataldo arrived in Montreal from Chile 20 years ago, she had her heart set on becoming a police officer. But like many immigrants, she had a hard time convincing her mother that being a cop is a respectable profession. Her mother wanted her to get a university degree; so Cataldo enrolled at Université de Montréal and studied social work and criminology.

After receiving her diploma on graduation day, Cataldo hugged her mother and whispered something in her ear. “I told her: ‘Now, I’m going to become a police officer.’ ”

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Police step up recruiting of visible minorities to better reflect Montreal's cultural diversity Back to video

Cataldo, 41, has been a Montreal police constable for 13 years, having entered the force through an equal opportunity program at a time when the SPVM was hiring more women.

Almost four years ago, the SPVM’s human resources department was looking for a new recruiter, someone who could be successful in persuading members of Montreal’s growing visible minority community to join their ranks. As a visible minority officer who speaks French, Spanish, Italian and some English, Cataldo felt she was a good candidate. The force agreed and gave her the difficult task of trying to woo other minorities into the police force.