RCMP Commissioner William Elliot joined members of the Yukon's M Division in their mess hall Monday to recognize officers and civilians for their service and bravery.

Cpl. Karina Watson was one of four officers to receive RCMP long service awards.

Watson, a 20-year veteran of the force, first came to the Yukon in 2008 and was posted to Dawson City as the non-commissioned officer in charge of operations.

Soon, she will be heading north to Old Crow to take over command of M Division's most northerly detachment.

"I asked to go there for the experience,” Watson said after receiving her award from the commissioner.

"I've spoken to quite a few other officers who have been posted to Old Crow, and they said they've had some of their best experiences there – some of the best memories and some of the worst of their careers.”

Watson joined the force in 1991 after returning to her Ontario home from Germany, where she was playing semiprofessional team handball (also known as European handball).

Although she left the game behind her when she joined the force, Watson may find herself playing again after a serendipitous meeting in Old Crow.

Recently, when she was up meeting the chief and council of the Vuntut Gwitchin, Watson discovered that she knew the principal of the school.

"We went to high school together,” she said of Steve Climie.

"And he played handball too, so who knows? We may have to start a team.”

Both were goalies in their younger years, "so we just might have to start two teams so we can both be in net,” she said.

Also receiving long service awards at Monday's ceremony were Cpl. Tom Howell (25 years), Sgt. Doug Spencer (20 years) and Sgt. Dave Yule (20 years).

They were joined by Maria Oswald and Linda Gerein, who have worked in the public service for 30 and 25 years respectively.

Williams, the current head of the RCMP, presented Cpl. Todd Monkman with the Commissioner's Commendation for Outstanding Service, in recognition for his role in a 2006 international drug sting.

Monkman was one of dozens of officers who participated in Operation Chabanel, which netted 22.5 tonnes of hashish in the biggest bust of its kind in Canadian history.

In May 2006, 50 undercover Mounties sailed an unmarked boat into the waters off the coast of Angola off the west coast of Africa and received almost 1,000 bales of hashish produced in Pakistan and bound for Montreal.

They transported the concentrated marijuana product back to Canada, where they lured in three suspected members of the West End gang and arrested them.

One of the detainees said he had been offered $14.5 million for the hashish, according to police.

Also honoured were Const. Joshua Penton and Jean-Louis Salesse.

Last Dec. 31, the two men noticed smoke coming from a Whitehorse residence and rushed in to make sure no one was at home. They saved the family dog, and no one was hurt.

Penton was off-duty at the time.

The RCMP long service award is the oldest distinction in Canada.