Warning: the following story contains strong language and disturbing imagery.
An award-winning Vancouver Island writer is criticizing the RCMP for their previous handling of a man who shot and killed his neighbour before taking his own life in Needles, B.C. late last year.
Anne Cameron has written to the RCMP鈥檚 Chief Commissioner, complaining that the force was aware of the danger Roy Bugera posed to the public, but did nothing.
鈥淚 wrote 鈥� to tell him he and the force had no reason at all to feel proud of the way they had handled the many problems caused by Roy Bugera,鈥� Cameron told Arrow Lakes News. 鈥淗ad they been more pro-active, the man could have been hospitalized, medicated, and given the help he so obviously needed. Instead, no matter how egregious his behaviour, the RCMP seemed willing to tolerate it, and him.鈥�
鈥淚t is a sad and tragic story, and it is a pity that Mr. Volansky had to die.鈥�
The RCMP say they handled the matter properly, and that 鈥渢here is no evidence to suggest that the events鈥� could have been predicted or prevented鈥�.
In December 2017, the 58-year-old Bugera shot and killed his neighbour Ron Volansky, an 83-year-old resident of Needles, then killed himself.
The motive for the killing is unknown.
Life in Tahsis
Bugera had moved to Needles, a small community 60 km south of Nakusp last summer. Locals said they did not know much about him.
But Cameron, who lives in Tahsis, on the west coast of Vancouver Island, says she had many encounters with the man. She told Arrow Lakes News Bugera and his wife lived in Tahsis for six years.
She says Bugera was a disruptive, combative man that many people in the tiny community feared.
鈥淗e just argued with everybody, he would have these incredible explosions and start yelling and screaming, and ranting and raving, and his face would swell up and go red,鈥� she recalls. 鈥淗is eyes would bug out of his head and a white froth would show on the corners of his mouth.鈥�
He was a stocky man, squarely built and muscular, and physically intimidating, said Cameron.
鈥淗e鈥檇 curse and swear. It was scary, really scary.鈥�
Not everyone in Tahsis got into fights with Bugera, says Cameron. He spent most of his days like others in the community do 鈥� setting prawn traps and fishing, working on his home. He often had a drink in hand, she added.
She said Bugera, to give him credit, 鈥渨as a real bull for work鈥� 鈥� was busy all the time, and had a thriving garden.
鈥淗e said he鈥檇 been 鈥渋n construction鈥� before he came to Tahsis,鈥� Cameron told Arrow Lakes News. 鈥淎nd he seemed to know how to build things, seemed to know how to do 鈥渁 good job鈥� of whatever it was he was doing.鈥�
But Bugera had built a tall fence around his manufactured home, and placed cameras on it, she says.
鈥淗e was paranoid, totally paranoid,鈥� says Cameron.
In March 2014 a neighbour of Cameron鈥檚 had a peace bond taken out on Bugera.
鈥淗e was endless with her,鈥� recalls Cameron. 鈥淗e yelled at her, threw rocks at her truck. A lot of it was really childish, but it was infuriating, because it never stopped.鈥�
It got more than childish, she says, when Bugera assaulted an 80-year-old resident, a Korean war vet. But she says RCMP never charged the man for the incident.
鈥淭he veteran had two cracked ribs, a bruised lung. and the police would not do a thing about it,鈥� she says. 鈥淭hey put it all down to a neighbour dispute, but it was well beyond a neighbour dispute.鈥�
Cameron says there were other incidents in which the police failed to deal with Bugera, frustrating residents of the small community.
鈥淚t is just sad, really sad, because if the police had 鈥� done something about it, that man could have been put in a hospital, and found a medication that could have calmed him down enough that he could have been a human person like the rest of us,鈥� she says.
After six years in the coastal community, in 2017 Bugera and his wife bought property in Needles. Cameron recalls a major change in Roy Bugera then.
鈥淭he week before he left to move to Needles my pug managed to get out of her activity yard and take off,鈥� she recalled. 鈥淩oy brought her back. He was carrying her, stroking her, talking soothingly to her, and when I told him 鈥渢hank you鈥� he said he didn鈥檛 want to interfere in any way but he hated the thought of her being on the road because some people drive like idiots鈥︹��
鈥淔or maybe ten minutes I got to see a very different side to Roy Bugera, he was obviously happy to be moving, told me about his place 鈥渂y the lake鈥�, said he planned to have a few chickens and raise his own eggs鈥� for those few minutes he seemed a very nice person. I wished him all the best, he said if I ever got up to Needles to drop by, bring my sleeping bag and they鈥檇 find me a place to put it鈥hen he walked off back to his place waving and smiling.鈥�
It was the last Cameron saw of Bugera. Before year鈥檚 end, he was dead.
Complaint to RCMP
News that Bugera had killed someone, and then himself, caused little surprise in the community, says Cameron.
鈥淣o, there was a sense of relief that he went up there to do it rather than starting something, shooting people around here,鈥� she says. 鈥淧eople were afraid of Roy Bugera.鈥�
She says after the incident, people in Tahsis have tried to put it behind them. But Cameron, an award-winning novelist, poet and screenwriter, who has written dozens of books, and is the winner of the George Woodcock Lifetime Achievement Award, could not let it go. That鈥檚 why she wrote to the RCMP.
鈥淚 wanted to tell them it鈥檚 their fault Mr. Volansky, that old man, is dead,鈥� she says. 鈥淚 mean, from the few reports on the internet, he was everyone鈥檚 grandpa and great-grandpa 鈥� 鈥榣et鈥檚 build a golf course, let鈥檚 get together at my place for Sunday dinner鈥�, and 鈥業鈥檓 going to go play soccer with the kids鈥�.
鈥淎nd I know we鈥檙e not to get ourselves tied up in the black and the white, and we鈥檙e not supposed to make moral judgments and there鈥檚 all this wifty-wafty hippy shit we are supposed to live by 鈥� but some things are wrong.
鈥淚t is wrong that that old man is dead. It is wrong that Roy Bugera offed himself. It is wrong that the RCMP didn鈥檛 intervene.鈥�
The RCMP responded to Cameron鈥檚 letter on Feb. 12. In a letter, Brenda Butterworth-Carr, the deputy commissioner and commanding officer of the B.C. RCMP, told Cameron she can 鈥渁ppreciate the frustration experienced during what can only be described as an unpleasant and protracted neighbour dispute involving Mr. Bugera.
鈥淚 can assure you, however, the Nootka Sound RCMP worked diligently to resolve the ongoing neighbour dispute in Tahsis, and there is no evidence to suggest that the events that led up to Mr. Bugera鈥檚 passing in Needles could have been predicted or prevented.鈥�
鈥淭hey said it was a privacy issue,鈥� says Cameron. 鈥淭hey just said, 鈥榩at the old lady on the head and hope she shuts up in a hurry鈥�.鈥�
But Cameron can鈥檛 leave it.
鈥淚 just want somebody to do something, and Mr. Volansky deserves better.鈥�
Nakusp RCMP told Arrow Lakes News they could not say if they had interaction with Bugera before the shootings, citing privacy concerns. They also said the matter was considered closed, and they don鈥檛 plan to release any further information to the public.
Relatives of Bugera鈥檚 contacted by Arrow Lakes News declined to comment.
