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PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - More than 300 people took part in a ceremony to the memory of Doug Coates and Mark Gallagher, two Canadian police officers killed in last week's quake in Haiti.
Several dignitaries and officials, as well as police officers from Quebec and Canadian Armed Forces members from CFB Trenton took part in the ceremony held at the Armed Forces encampment on the airport's premises.
About 45 police officers from Jamaica and China also paid respect to their Canadian colleagues.
The mourning police officers hailed Coates' "extraordinary carreer" and the fact that he was "a true friend of Haiti."
A United Nations official saluted Mark Gallagher's professionalism and his humanism, calling him a "congenial" man who possessed a talent to communicate with people even in the most tragic of circumstances.
"No words can describe the sense of loss we all feel today," he added, gazing at the two flag-draped caskets before him.
The speeches were followed by a minute of silence.
The remains of the two RCMP officers were then placed on board a C-17 aircraft en route for Canada, where they are expected to be repatriated at 4 p.m. at CFB Trenton, before being taken down the Highway of Heroes to Toronto.