final credits - robin cameron
On July 7th, 2006 two RCMP officers responded to a disturbance call on Main Street in Spiritwood, a small town about 140 kilometres west of Prince Albert, Saskatchewan.
Constables Robin Cameron and Marc Bourdages soon found themselves pursuing a fleeing suspect down country back roads past fields of grain and cattle nestled among stands of aspen, pine and black spruce.
The chase ended when Cameron and Bourdages were shot. The suspect fled into the thick Saskatchewan bush. RCMP issued a warrant for Curtis Alfred Dagenais.
Cameron died July 15th, 2006 at age 29 in a Saskatoon hospital. Her partner died two hours later.
"Our community is shocked. She was so outgoing. She helped a lot of people all the time," said a Spiritwood resident. "She did a lot of work at our school with presentations about bullying and self-esteem.
The story of Robin Cameron is one of adversity overcome.
Cameron grew up on the Beardy's Okemasis First Nation near Duck Lake, north of Saskatoon. After attending pubic school from Grades 1 to 3, she was sent to St. Michael Indian residential school for Grades 4 to 8.
Cameron's biography on the Keewatin Career Development Corp. web site reveals her troubled past.
"In high school I bounced back and forth between the public school and the residential school. Eventually I had to drop out altogether because of a teen pregnancy."
After about two years she declared: "Enough is enough. I am going back to school."
Cameron completed two years of university but her dreams took her elsewhere.
"I always wanted to be an RCMP, ever since I was a little girl," she said. "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."
A keen athlete, Cameron had competed in the Indigenous Games and toured Canada and the United States with her soccer team.
Cameron was first posted to the Beauval, Saskatchewan detachment in 2001 before transferring to Spiritwood two years later. She said she was not picky about where she would be posted. "I was just glad to graduate," she once said with a laugh.
Robin's shooting was the second tragedy to hit the family of Howard and Denise Cameron. A car accident 17 years ago left their son a level 4 quadriplegic when he was 16 and Robin was 12. The family moved to Saskatoon so they could be closer to him while he received treatment.
Cameron's portrait hangs on a wall inside a local school on the Beardy's Okemasis reserve. Community members said she was a role model and that her approachable and sincere nature helped bridge gaps between residents and police.
"We're trying to change our community into seeing the police from a different perspective -- as protectors, people who care about others," Witchekan Lake First Nation Chief Ken Thomas said. He added that Const. Cameron and Const. Bourdages were able to connect with local individuals while serving in his community.
At a press conference held after Robin died, her father said, "She knew the risks. But it never really played a part in her fulfilling her duties."
"Many stories we have heard in the past week have only made us prouder of our daughter," he said, adding that "with the loss of the two members, our extended family has grown to the Bourdages family."
Cameron leaves behind an 11-year-old daughter, Shane.