RCMP honours its fallen members
Families get chance to remember at Regina ceremony
REGINA Members of the RCMP held a national memorial service at the force’s Depot Division in Regina on Sunday.
The event is a decades-old tradition for members to honour fallen members of the service.
A memorial parade, wreath laying and names of 238 officers who lost their lives in the line of duty were read out to the crowd of officers and family members.
Added to that list this year was Cst. Richer Dubuc, who died on Mar. 6 following a motor vehicle collision in Quebec during a response to an illegal border crossing.
His brother Cst. Deitan Dubuc travelled to Regina with his parents and other siblings to attend the memorial service.
“For us it was to come back as a family and to honour the sacrifice my brother made, when he made the oath to serve the residents and the country of Canada,” he said. “It’s very important to be part of it and remember all the people who paid the ultimate price and gave their life to serve this country.”
Dubuc said his family was honoured to attend and that the RCMP took great care of them.
“(My brother) was very tall and big and imposing, but also he had the softest heart. He was great with children, loved kids and his family,” he said. “We miss him dearly, he was the only older brother I had and nine years ago, I pinned his badge here on him.”
The two brothers were able to share that badge pinning moment because Deitan is also a police officer. He is a sergeant with the Minneapolis police department and travelled to Regina when his brother graduated from the RCMP’s Depot division in 2009.
“He was very proud to join the force and being part of a great organization like the RCMP, having the opportunity to do what he decided he wanted to do,” said Dubuc. “We were proud of each other.” Cst. Natasha Szpakowski was also in attendance. For her, the memorial service is an annual event to honour her husband Cst. Marc Bourdages, who died on duty in Spiritwood in 2006.
“It’s really important, it’s an opportunity for the loved one’s legacy to live on,” she said. Her son, who was only 9 months old when Bourdages passed, also attends.
“Each year we come, it hits home a little bit more,” Szpakowski said. “Sometimes he talks about being a police officer.”
Sgt. Janie Perrault with the RCMP said it is important for cadets at Depot division to take part in the ceremony.
“This is also the place where we send the future members, so they need to know that whatever happens they will be remembered and part of this family here,” she said.