RCMP Supt. Doug Coates, a Gatineau resident who was acting police commissioner for the United Nations mission in Haiti, was found dead on Saturday after last Tuesday's earthquake there, according to RCMP Commissioner William Elliott.Searchers discovered Coates's body in the rubble of the UN headquarters in Port-au-Prince early Saturday morning, Elliott told an afternoon news conference in Ottawa. Coates was identified Saturday afternoon, he said."On behalf of the RCMP and all of Doug's colleagues, I wish to offer my profound sympathies to Doug's wife Lise, their children Julie, Mathieu and Luc, their family and friends," Elliott said, his voice cracking."
At the time of his tragic death, Doug was doing what he did so well -- leading an international peacekeeping operation. He was the acting commissioner of operations for the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti."Coates' last mission in Haiti began in June 2009. The 52-year-old officer was among 82 Canadian police officers serving in Haiti at the time of the earthquake. He is the second RCMP member killed in the earthquake, after Sgt. Mark Gallagher of Nova Scotia; Elliott said 80 other Canadian police officers in Haiti have been accounted for.
'Maintain Our Memories'
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