One of the things that have kept me (and there have been several) from blogging over the last day or so has been our best weather since 2002. After a week of cold and drizzle and no planes it cleared off and we have had several days of 11 or 12 degree temperatures, sunny skies and little wind. It has been absolutely gorgeous.
Appropriately though the gloom returned today, heavily overcast, cool and drizzling. It’s appropriate because today, at a hospital in Saskatoon, two RCMP members died within hours of each other. Nine days ago after responding to a family dispute near Spiritwood Saskatchewan they gave chase to the suspect and when the chase ended, they were shot by him. A third member returned fire however the suspect fled into the bush and is still at large. It hardly matters though because the ultimate result doesn’t change, two young police officers are dead, their families devastated.
Robin Cameron was only 29. A member of the Beardy’s Okamasis First Nations, she was a single mother who had chased her dream to be a member of the RCMP. She leaves behind an eleven year old daughter. Marc Bourdages was even younger, 26. His wife is also a member of the RCMP, working at the same detachment as him. I’ll leave it to you to imagine how difficult a road she has now. Tragically he leaves behind a 9 month old son. Nine months, the age when babies really start developing their personalities, when they really become so much fun. He’ll never again experience the joy of that tiny little life, and his son will never, ever know his father.
I’ve written before on what it is like when a member of the RCMP, a member of my family is taken from us. Suffice it to say, all of us feel the loss, we are all family. And even though I do not know either of the two who died, it doesn’t lessen the impact. I have stood where they stood, I know many of their hopes and dreams.
Who casts not up his eye to the sun when it rises? but who takes off
his eye from a comet when that breaks out? Who bends not his ear to any
bell which upon any occasion rings? but who can remove it from that
bell which is passing a piece of himself out of this world? No man is
an island, entire of itself; every man is a piece of the continent, a
part of the main.
If a clod be washed away by the sea, Europe is the less, as well as if
a promontory were, as well as if a manor of thy friend’s or of thine
own were: any man’s death diminishes me, because I am involved in
mankind, and therefore never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it
tolls for thee.
– John Donne
Comments
4 responses
My heart goes out to the families of those brave RCMP members, Clare. And to you and all other members of that greater RCMP family as you grieve their loss.
Any loss is aweful. My heart goes out to the families for their loss. Those that protect us from harm no matter where, pay the price. Sometimes the price is too high.
When I heard this news I thought of you- (you are the only ex-RCMP that I know of).
I don’t know if it’s true or not that less law enforcement officers are murdered here in Canada, per capita, than in the States, but to hear and see the entire country mourn is really such a tribute to the respect we ultimately have for them and their families, and the horror we feel of such a senseless act. I can only imagine how it must make you feel, Clare.
I hope when they catch the killer that they show no mercy. Cops do their jobs because they love the work. There could be no other sane reason. Rest In Peace.