John Augustine Buis

Divisions Served: “E”

Medals and Honours: Sovereigns Medal For Volunteers, RCMP Long Service Medal with a Gold and Silver Clasp, Queens’ Diamond Jubilee Medal, Order of Merit of the Police Forces, UN Peacekeeping Medal-UNMISET, East Timor Queen’s Golden Jubilee Medal, Canadian Peacekeeping Medal, Commander’s Commendation for Outstanding Service, UN Peacekeeping Medal-UNPROFOR Former Yugoslavia, St. John Ambulance Meritorious Service Award

Pillar Location: Coming Soon

Story: 

S/S/M John A. BUIS joined the RCMP at Surrey Detachment from Delta, BC on October 4, 1976.  He will have completed 45 years of service when he plans to retire on Wednesday October 6, 2021.  He has had an intrepid, 44-year career in the RCMP with over 30 years of his service in the City of Burnaby.  He and his wife of 43 years, Kellie, have raised three adult children (one son in the RCMP), and have two granddaughters.

In 1979, while working in plainclothes, he and his partner Cst. Jack ROBINSON stopped a speeding car in Burnaby, BC that was later determined to stolen from the USA.  The car was stopped and there were seven occupants in the vehicle. Then, 25 -year-old Cst. BUIS, with just over two years of service, was shot at close range by a suspect with a sawed-off shotgun by one of the occupants of the car.  Cst. ROBINSON and General Duty Cst. Merv KOROLEK returned fire and wounded the shooter three times.  The gunman collapsed because of his wounds but was able to take Cst. BUIS’ revolver and fire once at Cst. ROBINSON.  The shooter then took seriously injured, but conscious, Cst. BUIS hostage, shoving the police revolver into the back of his head, threatening to kill him for over three minutes.  Attending members convinced the shooter to give himself up and the hostage taking was over.  Cst. BUIS was taken to hospital and remained there for 26 days to repair severe damage to both legs.  Since the shooting over 41 years ago, he has returned to active duty with interruptions in his service over a four-decade period, to undergo nine reconstructive surgeries followed by six knee surgeries.

During his career, S/S/M BUIS has served as a General Duty member, Plain Clothes General Investigator, Administrative Reviewer/Analyst, Policy Writer, Emergency Response Team/Leader, Tactical Troop, Federal Policing Investigator/Supervisor, Media Relations Officer, Firearms and Police and Public Safety Instructor, United Nations Police Monitor, Watch Commander, District Commander, and for the last 12 years of his service as the Executive NCO to the Officer in Charge of Burnaby Detachment.

Along with his regular duties, S/S/M BUIS has been a Media Relations Officer for a number of high-profile events including the RCMP “Pulling Together” Journey’s ‘97 Canoe Trip and the policing security of the Asia Pacific Economic Conference (APEC). He has been successful on a number of high-profile news stories including Honorary Cst. Keian BLUNDELL (2013), Honorary S/S/M Casey Wrightt (2013-2017), Kinder Morgan/Burnaby Mountain pipeline expansion protests (2014) and his person struggle with PTSD and his subsequent recovery journey (2020).

He was a six-year member of the Burnaby Detachment ERT in the 1980s.  As an ERT member he was on two emergency national deployments to Ottawa, ON for the Turkish Embassy Crisis in 1985 and to Montreal, and QC for the Oka Crisis in 1990.

S/S/M BUIS has been on two United Nations Peacekeeping missions, his first in Sector East of the former Yugoslavia (1994) and his second in East Timor (2003).

Other notable contributions by S/S/M BUIS while stationed in Burnaby include co-founding of the Burnaby Task Force on Homelessness in 2004 and assisting this group for six years.  He is a two-time rider on the Canadian Cancer Society’s Cops for Cancer “Tour de Coast” in 2006 and 2008.  He personally raised more than $35,000 and continued to be a coach and mentor for the Tour de Coast for over 10 years afterwards.  In 2019 he received the Canadian Cancer Society BC/Yukon Region “Achievement in Volunteer Leadership Award.”  He was the Director of Security for the Burnaby 2012 BC Seniors Games and Manager of Security for the 2016 World Junior Tai Kwon Do Championship both hosted by the City of Burnaby.

From 1974 until 2014, S/S/M BUIS has been a leader in organizing youth basketball in BC, specifically the BC High Schools Boys Basketball Championship Tournament and Basketball BC.  He was the Tournament Director of the BC Hight School Boys’ Tournament from 1992 to 2014 for this well-attended and highly successful event.  At Basketball BC, he has been a board member since 1996 and served as the President for 9 years in the 2000s.  In 2007 he was voted “President of the Year” by Canada Basketball for his leadership with Basketball BC.  While at Basketball BC he was one of four Canadian representatives on the Board of Directors of FIBA of the Americas (Puerto Rico, USA), the governing body of basketball in North, South and Central America (2006-2010).  He has been inducted into the Delta, BC (2010) and Basketball BC (2012) Sports Halls of Fame in the Builder category for his sports organization commitment.

In addition to his contributions to sports and community, S/S/M BUIS has volunteered as the Chair of the Board of Directors with Operation Rainbow Canada (ORC), for two years.  ORC is a registered charitable society performing reconstructive surgery in developing countries.  He deployed, with the medical staff, on two medical missions with ORC to Medan, Indonesia in 2009 and Linyi City, China in 2010.  He has also volunteer as a board member on a number of other charities and societies during his service.

S/S/M BUIS’ UN Mission in the Former Yugoslavia was chronicled in the 2020 book, “Leading at the Edge-True Tales from Canadian Police in Peacebuilding and Peacekeeping Missions Around the World,” by Inspector Ben Maure, MSC, MA.  The book is licensed by the RCMP Foundation.