The Agenda with Steve Paikin (Audio) - Claire Cameron: How a Cancer Diagnosis Led to an Obsession with a Bear Attack

Episode Date: April 29, 2025

Novelist Claire Cameron investigates the shocking true story of a couple killed by a black bear in Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park in her debut memoir "How to Survive a Bear Attack." Why did this tragedy resonate with her? And what answers did she hope to find in her quest? Claire Cameron joins Nam Kiwanuka to discuss her latest book. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

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It's also a story about a system that is supposed to protect patients. From TVO podcasts, I'm Krisha Collier, and this is The Oath. Subscribe today, wherever you listen. Novelist Claire Cameron investigates the shocking true story of a couple killed by a black bear in Ontario's Algonquin Provincial Park in her debut memoir, How to Survive a Bear Attack. Why did this tragedy resonate with her and what answers does she hope to find in her quest? Claire Cameron joins us now for more. Hi.

Hi. My goodness, you can write. Thank you. This book is so incredibly beautiful. It's so personal, but it's also, it's kind of a guide for something that people might not understand. And just for the record, you were not attacked by a bear. I was not attacked by a bear. What happened in your life to prompt you to write this memoir?

I have always been an outdoors person. I love Algonquin Park specifically, about three hours north of Toronto. And I've spent my whole life in the wilderness. My father died when I was young. He was diagnosed with cancer, melanoma. And the way I recovered was going out to Algonquin Park specifically and learning to canoe and that sort of thing. And then when I turned 45, I was also diagnosed with cancer, the same kind of cancer. And it's skin cancer and I have a mutation which means that I can't go in the sun.

So the way I recovered from my father's death and that I learned to cope with hard things in life was gone. And I was at such a loss. And it was during that time when I was sort of unclear what to do and not sure about my fate or how long I'd live that I got obsessed with this bear attack again. And you described that ability to be able to go outside as a loss. I want to come back to that in a moment. But when you get this news, you're 45 years old.

Your dad got his diagnosis when he was, I believe, 42. 42, yeah. And you weren't nine years old? Yes. Very young. And then you had to relay this news to your children. Yeah. Knowing how you felt and the things

that you processed as a child and now being a mother and having to relay that same information to your children, how did you navigate that? It was so hard. I think especially when I first got the diagnosis. My dad died of cancer in the 80s. So it was a really hard, and it was skin cancer, but it metastasized.

And he had chemotherapy, which at that time was sort of like a flame thrower. And he was six foot five, he went down to about 100 pounds when he died. So it was this difficult death that I had such a vivid memory of, and all I could think was that was my fate as well. In some ways I've never felt closer to my father,

because we were genetically intertwined. On the other hand, it was just horrific to think not only that my life might be a lot shorter than I imagined, but that the end might be hard and that my kids would have to watch what I had. I wanted to read you a passage from the novel, if I could. You write, I had learned to cope with difficult things in a certain way.

My ability to weather the elements in the wilderness, which by its very nature includes sun exposure, had helped me find strength, courage, and perspective. My first instinct after learning I had cancer was to get in a canoe and paddle away. Now the way I'd learned to heal was the one thing I could no longer safely do. Everyone deals with grief in a different way. From your story as you just said that the way you found solace and also how you dealt with the grief of your father dying was by going outdoors. Yet with your diagnosis you can't do this anymore. How did you process that loss? How did

you approach that loss? I think I have this vivid memory of being in my chair in my office and one of the novels I wrote is called The Bear and it was sort of loosely based on this bear attack. It was more like a sort of hallucination of it than based on fact. And I was looking at that novel and I had this little detail in it and it said in the prologue it said there was an ore found at the front of the campsite a broken ore and That struck me because I had a memory from way back when this attack happened that it was a broken paddle and That just spurred something I thought

After you know, I couldn't go outdoors and I didn't know how to cope and so I just thought well I got the only thing I know how to do is right and I got this detail wrong and it just started driving me crazy and I found myself on the internet trying to find the police officer that had responded to that he was in the search party during this attack and I called him up and I said can I come and talk to you because I need to figure out if this is a you know if it was a paddle or an ore found at the campsite. And that's important because some people might think what is the difference but it is there's a big difference.

There is I mean this book is in in a way written as an investigation and that is a big clue. An ore is much more sturdy and it's heavier and it takes a lot more force to split an oar than it does a paddle. So it said something about the strength of the confrontation that happened at that campsite but I didn't know what. So I set out not only to find out what happened but I wanted to find out why. I wanted to know how terror can rip through such a beautiful place that I love. There's this beautiful passage when you are stuck in your house

and you are trying to write, but you can't write. And then you were talking about being in a brick home and being sheltered from the elements. And I guess this idea that we think that we are in control of so much, but yet we're not. Was this a way for you maybe to be in control of something, anything? I think I didn't know that at the time.

In retrospect, I wanted to go north. I had this impulse to go to Elgonquin Park, because that's where I'd healed before. And I just sort of let this slightly obsessive, perhaps we can put it more nicely as curiosity now, guide me. And you know, and I went north. But I couldn't go outside. So I did the second best thing, which was talk to all the people that do go outside all the time up there. Not a lot of people might know what happened in Algonquin Park in 1991. Can you give us the general details of what happened?

Yes, so I was working at a summer camp before or after. So at the time I heard them almost like a ghost story. But a couple on Canadian Thanksgiving went on a camping trip. They left from the opiongo store and they were going for the long weekend they didn't turn up on the Tuesday and their friends and family called the park office and eventually a search party was set out to an island in the middle of Lake Yopiango and they were their remains were found and so it was a bear attack and a predatory bear attack, which is extremely unusual, especially

that two adults were killed. We have a map here of Algonquin Park. It's not very far from the GTA, close to the border of Quebec. It's about a three-hour drive from Toronto. Depending on the traffic. Depending on the traffic, right. It takes an hour to get to Toronto. It's 250 kilometres north of Toronto and about 260

kilometers west of Ottawa. You worked in Algonquin Park as you mentioned, you led canoe trips there. Do you remember hearing about the bear attack back then? Yeah I did. So it was on the cover of the Globe and Mail a couple days after it happened but the details were very sparse. I think as a journalist you can probably appreciate that it's quite hard to report on a bear attack and the experts often don't know what's happened. So there's very sparse details. And then the next summer I went back to work in Algonquin Park and I heard these the strangest details almost like ghost stories around the campfire. Everyone knew a little thing. So like the paddle

was one that there was a, that's how I heard it, that there was a broken paddle when the search party pulled up. And I thought, why is it broken? But I also heard that there was a tray of ground beef found around the, there was rocks around a campfire and there was a tray of ground beef that was just sitting there. It was five days after the couple had arrived at the island.

But it was untouched. And I thought it was untouched. But,. You know there's something significant about that. Why? Because I think some people might hear that and be like hmm. So the bear was on the island when the search party came but he didn't touch the ground beef. He was after the bigger prize. This was a predatory attack. You've been honest about your, should I say obsession? Yes, oh it's fine. I think it qualifies. About researching this attack, you mentioned the first book, The Bear, which was a work of fiction. What do you think drew you to this case? I love bears and I have experienced tree

planting in the north around Hearst, Ontario. I lived with bears there. I've seen them my whole... I've had such peaceful encounters. Black bears are shy. You know, they're smaller than grizzlies. They're more like... And I've thought of them through much of my life, like overgrown raccoons. You know, if they come close, and they generally don't, they get into the garbage or they're

attracted by food, and it's my mistake. So I knew that. I had these very peaceful encounters with bears. But then I also knew this had happened. And it was like the more experience I had with the bears and the more research I did and realized how uncommon this was, it was a big gap opened up between the two.

And on this one hand, there was this sort of monstrous act on another, the animals I knew. So on this one hand, there was this sort of monstrous act on another, the animals I knew. So I think that in between there. You did a lot of research on this. You actually went to the site several times where the attack happened, and you even slept there. What was it like the first time that you went?

My husband, the first time? The first time was with a man named Jerry Shimanda, who was in the party, the search party. He worked at the opiongo store at the time and he took me over in a boat. It was amazing because it was 1991 when it happened and we were there, you know, 2019. But when he talked about it, the blood still moved in his chest. And it was, you know, you could really see it, the memory of it in his eyes. And he also was in a very similar state to me in trying to understand the attack And it was, you know, you could really see it, the memory of it in his eyes.

And he also was in a very similar state to me in trying to understand the attack because he'd had as well a lot of experience with black bears that were nothing like this, very ordinary experiences. And then you have this crazy idea to sleep there and your husband says what? So my husband, my husband's from California. He's seen a few black bears, but he's not as versed in the Canadian wilderness, and he was unsure about the whole idea. But I really wanted to go to,

it turned out to be so important, I wasn't sure what I was looking for, but we actually, when we were paddling up to the island, there was this, a naturalist at the time in 1991, the park naturalist said, you know, the couple, this was not their fault, they did nothing nothing wrong they were just in the wrong place at the wrong time and I'd always I knew that was true on a level but as we were paddling up I turned around and I could see the Sun coming down and it was at the perfect

angle to the island and I realized they'd chosen this campsite probably in my imagination but there's a good chance they were outdoors people in order to see the sunset. And I never would have known that unless I'd been there at the Thanksgiving weekend on the same time. And it just gave me this kind of solace, like maybe they were exactly where they wanted to be.

It gave you peace. Yeah, and peace for their memory in a way, which going back and revisiting these stories memory in a way which you know going back and revisiting these stories in a way you're dredging them up in a way their stories are about offering peace and you know and finding some solace in the here and now. You met with a bear biologist by the name of Jeremy Ingles to understand more about the bear and the attack itself. And he was very nervous about the portrayal

of the bear in the story, and at one point asked whether the bear would be treated like a demon. Did that surprise you? No, because I've studied bears for long enough. So he wasn't going to grant me an interview initially, and he said that exactly. Will this bear be a demon? And it was a question it took me a few years to answer, So he wasn't going to grant me an interview initially and he said that exactly. Will this bear be a demon?

And it was a question it took me a few years to answer actually because I had this couple who I didn't assign responsibility or wrongdoing but then this terrible thing happened. So what's on the other side of that? You know, is that the bad guy? It took me a couple years to understand this attack from the bear's perspective. And quite a bit of the book is telling the story of the bear and the year up leading up to the attack. Why did you... it was a very intentional choice by you to do that. Yeah.

Bear attacks are very rare. Why did you choose that approach? Because I think a lot of people kept saying you you'll never understand this attack and I thought well There was one point at which I found in the archives below the visitor center in Algonquin Park There was this binder and someone had saved a picture of the bear in a local newspaper and he was lying on his side He looked very healthy And he was about eight and a half. He was an extremely successful, you know, he wasn't sick He didn't do this from a position of weakness and this picture just he was shot after the attack He just looks so full of life

I almost felt like I could have put my hands on him and felt heat and it just it made me realize This bear had a life and he made a decision. And I had been, I couldn't solve the case. You know, I couldn't figure out why this happened. But when I made the bear the centre of the story, and I made it about him, not the people, that's when it started to make sense. That's when I started to understand why this happened. And he was shot for a reason because he had the taste of...

Yeah, I think if a bear has, I mean, if a bear gets too habituated to humans or is aggressive with humans, they get shot. Who was Laura Darby? Laura Darby. So I was trying to... the couple, when they left the dock on the Friday night, no one saw them after that. There were clues left behind on the campsite and footprints and things to sort of piece it together but we don't actually know what the couple's experience was. So in order to sort of fill in the gaps I talked to other people who'd had similar. Laura Darby, the bravest woman I've ever met, was working up north and she was attacked by a black bear in a similar predatory attack and was very generous

in sharing her experience. And she lived to tell the tale. She lived to tell the tale. Yeah, she did. She actually, we spent hours on Zoom, and she talked me all through that and her recovery too. One of the things that really stands out to me about our conversation, she

had some dark something behind her when we were on the computers and I asked her what it was and she zoomed out and showed me and it was the pelt of the bear that had attacked her. So she has it on her wall as kind of a reminder and she lives with it. It's something she lives with but that she's very much recovered from as well. She's an inspiration. Yeah, and she went through a lot of trauma, because even just a little sound can make her afraid. Yeah, especially initially, she said. And she was very purposeful in trying to get herself out

into the world. And it was something, I mean, we have very different experiences. But after my operations from cancer and that sort of thing, I related to a lot of how she talked about trying to rejoin the world in a different shape than you were before. I mean, just being scarred and that you can't see,

my scars won't show on TV, but they're on my back and things and just feeling, the feeling of vulnerability. I had always thought throughout my life because I knew about bears. I had the secret thinking that if a bear came after me I'd be okay. You know and then when I got cancer I was all of a sudden unsure that I would you know have the mental fortitude or the physical and we both had that you know the feeling of being very capable and then something happens to you that you can't control and it sort of takes away

your agency. How do you get that back? Because you did describe the scar as a bite mark. Yeah. What did you learn about yourself during this? I am...oh, so much. I guess, at first, and I think so many people are living with cancer, a good thing is that people are living longer. Cancer used to be a death sentence. It isn't so much now, but you have to learn to live with the fear that it can come back. And so I've learned to be much more in the moment and value everyday life

and project ahead less than I used to. And you're a runner. Yeah. Now you've had to rearrange. Running used to be your warm up. Yeah, exactly. And now it's the main event. It's the main thing.

And you structure your day according to the sun. I'm almost like a sundial. So I go about two hours before the sun goes down, and then that switches through the year. So when it's the darkest day in November, hours before the sun goes down and then that switches through the year. So you know when it's the darkest day in November I'll go at like 2 2 30 in the afternoon but then when it's really sunny in June I'll go late at night. Because you said it this has taught you to live in the moment. If you're planning

your day according to your the possibility this cancer might come back. Mm-hmm. How does that impact you in a day to day? I used to, I think I used to go north to seek the wilderness and to seek the solace of that. And what this has really taught me is that the wilderness is everywhere. You know, so now I live in Toronto, I run down by the lake, Lake Ontario. This huge body of water that I've somehow ignored for much of my life living here, it's a beautiful place.

It's the most wild place I know. And I go there and I feel like I'm in the wilderness. And I've realized there's wilderness behind my house in the alley. There's wilderness in the cracks of the sidewalk. This has really taught me to not think of, you know, the wilderness isn't just contained in Algonquin Park, it's everywhere. I wanted to read another passage from your book. You write, The same cells that helped me paddle and kept me alive were also the ones that might kill me.

Terra, if I wanted to pinpoint it, already lived inside me. And so does the beauty of Algonquin Park. Terra and beauty can't be pulled apart. They can't be separated, no matter how tempting it might be to try. What did you mean when you wrote Terra and Beauty can't be pulled apart? I think you know this idea, this slightly ridiculous idea that I was alluding to before that I was ready for a bear attack at any moment. I expected danger to come from the outside and when I was diagnosed with cancer I realized that it's in my cells and it's me as part of me and I inherited I like to think my dad's sense of humor and his blue eyes and all you know my son's tall like him

and I also inherited this mutation and the idea that it's wild inside me as well is a comfort. Because cancer isn't something I'm fighting. It's not a dark shape coming for me. It's very much who I am. But that also means it's inside you. It's also in your children. Possibly, yeah. They haven't been tested yet.

But yes, it's an inherited trait. How do you reconcile that? I don't know that I have quite yet. My oldest is 19, so he's making his own decisions. But it is something we just try and talk about and be present with in our family. And that's another thing that you can get paralyzed by fear or you can lead with love and connection. And so that's, you know, that's what we're always trying to do.

I love that, lead with love and connection. When you were diagnosed, you wrote that you lost your voice. You felt like you lost your voice. How has this investigation and process helped you find it? Has it helped you find it? Absolutely. I think there's a bit of fiction in the book. And I was sort of

stuck so I couldn't go into the wilderness. I was you know I just have my picture of myself stuck in the blue chair and just this obsessive curiosity I had about getting figuring out the details of what happened in this attack. I met people like Dave Stott who's a retired police officer with the Ontario Provincial Police who was incredibly generous had me to his home. He was a first responder. I made friends with him and his wife or the bare biologist Jeremy Ingles I keep in touch with and I'll go up and like you know he has trail cams and all that sort of thing. I just started to turn outward. I think

being diagnosed with cancer, I got very internal and this investigation helped me turn outward again and find, so I know I wasn't on a 30 day canoe trip but I was spending my days on the shadier trails of the park and I was talking to people who were passionate about bears or law enforcement or who'd been through an incredible experience. And I got to, this is about the connection.

It's about connecting with people and spending your day with something you're interested in. It's that simple, I think. And I really appreciated how you told the story of the couple because you humanized them. Because I think oftentimes when we hear awful things happen on the news, people's names might be mentioned, but you spoke to their families, you painted a picture of who these people were, and I thought that was so lovely.

This book felt like a book about the human experience of processing fear, things we can't control, grief and the unknown. What message do you hope that readers take away from your story? I hope it's a story about connection and about love. That those are the two things that matter and everything else needs to be organized around those.

And it's amazing if you let those two things lead, what you can, the resilience. I think in the book I describe it as, you know, we're all born and we're all going to die and in between there, there's a bridge and that is love. And that's what you have to wake up and focus on every day. And we get to decide how we live that. Exactly. How are you doing now? Good. I've had, well, sort of good.

My genetics aren't great, I guess. So I've had cancer since the initial diagnosis on my leg and in my eye too. So it's something I've lived with. For a long time I was waiting to get over it, but that's not the case for me. I'm going to be always having it. And in the book you describe what the operation was like when you had it in the eye. Oh my gosh. You are such a bad, fill in the blank,

you are like such like a rad person. The way you described, you were watching and the things that you've navigated. You're such a beautiful writer. Thank you. And something that you actually do learn from the book too also is you do learn how to survive a bear attack. You do. There's a practical... So I'm not just being arty with this title.

And part of that is because people know I know about bears and they're always saying, well, what do I do if a bear comes into my camp? Or what do I... So I really wanted this book to have a practical element because it's actually quite a complicated answer and it takes a length of a book to answer. So I hope people come, because the big danger to bears, there isn't much, there's one bear attack like this a year at most in North America, and not like this because two people were killed in this one.

Statistically, we kill bears in the thousands. That's, you know, and if we need to learn to live alongside bears and the way to do that is to learn how to coexist and treat them well and keep our campsite clean and stuff like that. So there's there's lots of that kind of thing in the book as well. Claire, thank you so much for coming in. Thank you. Fantastic book. Congratulations.

Thank you so much. Thanks.