RCMP Protect Public with their Lives

Slain Mountie overcame obstacles and was role model for aboriginal community

Sun Jul 16, 5:09 PM

SPIRITWOOD, Sask. (CP) - A Saskatchewan woman who overcame a series of personal challenges en route to her dream job as a Mountie lost her final battle this weekend when she died from a gunshot wound.

Const. Robin Cameron, 29, was taken off life support at a Saskatoon hospital late Saturday night.

She had been working at the Spiritwood detachment of the RCMP in northwestern Saskatchewan when she and two other officers went to investigate an assault complaint on July 7. Their pursuit of a suspect ended in gunfire near the hamlet of Mildred.

Cameron and Const. Marc Bourdages, 26, were wounded, but the third officer called for help and returned fire. The suspect fled on foot, sparking a manhunt that has lasted more than a week.

Bourdages died about two hours after Cameron, assistant RCMP commissioner Darrell McFadyen said Sunday.

Police were still searching for Curtis Alfred Dagenais, a 41-year-old Spiritwood man.

Cameron, originally from the Beardy's and Okemasis First Nation north of Saskatoon, has been described as a role model for her community. A keen athlete, she had competed in the Indigenous Games and toured Canada and the United States with her soccer team.

During a turbulent childhood, she bounced between public school and a native residential school and eventually dropped out due to a teen pregnancy. But she was determined to turn her life around and was sworn in as a member of the RCMP five years ago.

"I always wanted to be an RCMP, ever since I was a little girl," she said in an interview posted on the website of Keewatin Career Development Corp., an umbrella organization that helps young people in northern Saskatchewan make career choices.

"When I went for the interview, they told me that my eyes were too bad, and they refused me. I was stubborn. Nobody tells me 'No.' "

"I ended up getting laser surgery on my eyes. When I went back, they took me in."

Cameron's father and her uncle Ernie also served in the RCMP, so she was aware of the risks involved.

Ernie Cameron described his niece as one of the "special breed" that makes it in the RCMP, and called her "a very caring and sharing individual."

Howard Cameron paid loving tribute to his daughter during a news conference in Saskatoon on Sunday.

"As parents, we went through the greatest fear of getting the knock on the door at an early hour, telling us that our daughter had been injured," he said.

"We asked for that miracle - for the members to survive. But it wasn't meant to be. But now I know that the prayers that have been said have been for Robin and for Marc to make the crossover - that other journey."

Cameron said his daughter was the leader of the family.

"What she said usually went."

He described the agonizing decision to take her off life support.

"Robin fought. We knew there was nothing wrong with her heart, but the wound to her head was so devastating that we knew that the doctors told us that the Robin we knew would never come back."

Howard Cameron said his daughter had made it clear in the past that she did not want to live as anything but a vibrant young mother.

"We honoured her, and last night she took her final breaths with family around her. And now we will take her home. But I know that she'll never be forgotten."

Robin Cameron was a single mother. Her daughter, Shane, is 11.

The headline for the white RCMP officer should be something like:

Slain Mountie pays ultimate price to uphold law and order.

Saskatchewan Mountie Marc Bourdages was family man, officer, hockey player

Sun Jul 16, 5:07 PM

SPIRITWOOD, Sask. (CP) - RCMP Const. Marc Bourdages is being remembered as a hero, loving husband and father, and gifted hockey player.

Bourdages, 26, who was originally from Saint-Eustache, Que., died early Sunday morning after being shot July 7 in northern Saskatchewan during a high-speed chase.

He leaves behind a nine-month-old son and a widow, Natasha Szpakowski, who, like her husband, is a constable posted to the Spiritwood detachment, west of Prince Albert.

"I believe that Marc is with us now in spirit and that he is in a better place where he can be peaceful," she told a news conference in Saskatoon on Sunday.

Szpakowski also thanked the Royal University Hospital in Saskatoon for the care they gave her husband, and people across the country.

"Their love and support and the messages that we have received from across Canada have helped us stay strong through this horrible week."

Szpakowski made a special point of saying that Bourdages was a good friend of Robin Cameron, the other Mountie who was shot after the high-speed car chase. Cameron died in hospital just two hours before Bourdages passed away.

"(They) were colleagues as well as friends and they enjoyed working together. It was no surprise to me that they were on shifts together that evening," Szpakowski said, adding that her whole family extends sympathies to the Cameron family for their loss.

The suspect in the case, Curtis Alfred Dagenais, is still at large.

Bourdages' friends say he was a smart, caring cop, as well as a top-notch hockey player.

He was so good, other players griped about it because "guys couldn't catch him when he had the puck," former colleague Staff Sgt. Colin White of the Lac La Biche RCMP told the Saskatoon StarPhoenix.

Bourdages had been posted in Lac La Biche and Pelican Narrows, Sask., before arriving in Spiritwood.

White said it was almost immediately obviously that Bourdages was a friendly man.

"I remember my wife and I were really new here and we were just walking to the detachment from the parking lot and Marc pulled in . . . and we started talking."

He said Bourdages took him around on one of his first night shifts, showing him the trouble spots and who to look out for.

He said Bourdages was "a really good policeman, really smart."