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Saskatchewan park dedicated to Mounties fatally shot a decade ago

Jul 7, 2016 | 2:04 PM

SPIRITWOOD, Sask. — A new park in Spiritwood, Sask., has been dedicated to the memories of two Mounties who were killed on the job 10 years ago.

Constables Robin Cameron, 29, and Marc Bourdages, 26, were fatally shot on July 7, 2006, while trying to arrest a man wanted for an alleged assault during a family dispute.

Curtis Dagenais is serving a life sentence on two counts of first-degree murder and the attempted murder of a third constable, Michelle Knopp, who was injured in the shooting.

Dagenais was captured after a massive manhunt that lasted a week and a half.

Memorial organizer Delphine McAdam says Cameron and Bourdages were loved by the community, which is trying to raise money for a statue to be built of the two Mounties.

Bourdages’ widow Natasha Szpakowski and their son Luca spoke at Wednesday’s ceremony.

“He deserves to be recognized today and always,” she said. “This park is going to be very meaningful to us.”

Szpakowski thanked the community and the RCMP for their ongoing support, adding she wants people to know her husband was very proud to be a Mountie.

The Beardy’s and Okemasis First Nation in Saskatchewan, where Cameron grew up, has already named an educational complex for her. 

Rob Clarke, the officer in charge of the Spiritwood detachment at the time of the shooting, was the one who got the call that his officers had been shot.

“It brings up a lot of emotions,” he said Wednesday. “For one, I think about everyone that was involved, but I think about all the other first responders; the police officers who put on the uniforms, and you don’t know what’s going to happen during that day.”

Clarke left the RCMP and became a Member of Parliament for Desnethé-Missinippi-Churchill River from 2008 until he was defeated in the 2015 federal election.

(CKOM, CJWW)

 

CKOM, CJWW, The Canadian Press