At today's funeral for three Mounties killed in the line of duty last week in Moncton, N.B., Prime Minister Stephen Harper spoke about the 'profound sadness and searing grief' brought about by the shootings.
He said the sadness is being felt across the country but 'nowhere more profoundly' than in Moncton.
The regimental funeral was attended by thousands of RCMP and other law enforcement officials from across Canada.
The caskets were carried into the Moncton Coliseum by RCMP officers dressed in their red serge uniforms.
Roger Brown, the assistant commissioner of the RCMP in New Brunswick, offered a tearful eulogy to the three fallen Mounties.
'I am so fortunate we have over 1,200 [RCMP] employees in our beautiful province and with the eyes of the nation upon us today, I wanted to publicly say how incredibly proud I am of each and every one of you,' Brown said.
'I only wish that I could have told Doug, Dave and Fabrice in person. I will never forget that nor will we. Const. Gevaudan, Const. Ross, Const. Larche, to your post dismissed.'
He also pointed to the three large photos of the constables and urged the crowd to help their loved ones in these difficult days.
'Remember that while you don't see them, there are family and friends behind each and every one of them,' Brown said.
'Together we struggle for answers, we ask what in God's name happened here and why? We may never know. When we search for reason and meaning in actions so intrinsically vile and senseless, we search in unlikely places,' Harper said.
'With three men dead, cut down in their prime, doing their sworn duty to serve and protect their neighbours, we do not need a verdict to know that what happened here is an outrage.'
Harper said an attack on police officers is not just an attack on them, but also on society as a whole. Families remember slain officers
Daniel Larche was the first to honour the memory of one of the slain officers. He spoke about how his 'little brother Doug' was 'selfless in every aspect of life.'
'He always put others before himself, even in death,' he said.
Larche told the crowd of thousands how his brother devoted his life to his wife, Nadine, and their three daughters. He said the two recently spent their 12th wedding anniversary at their daughters' year-end dance recitals.
He told the police officers how proud his brother would be to know how much support they had given his family in recent days. Larch said he hopes no other police families have to endure the pain they are going through now.
'Never in my worst nightmare did I envision a stitch in time where I would be one to give his eulogy. I guess it is because Doug was in the prime of his life, invincible, and it never occurred to me that I could one day have to worry about this. Certainly not now, not for another 50 years,' Larche said.
'I always assumed that we were going to get old and retire together. ... I want him back so badly that I can tell him one more time that I love him and I'm proud of the great man he has become.'
Adrien Van Der Ploeg paid tribute to his brother-in-law, a man he remembered as a 'true hero.'
Van Der Ploeg spoke about how Dave Ross was deeply committed to serving his community and even during family car trips he would pull over at any accident scene to see if everyone was safe.
He said on the day he died, Ross left his home with the garage door raised and the barbecue lid open after being called to work.
'Dave loved the RCMP. For him, it was his pride and duty to serve and protect, this was evident in his personal life,' he said.
Ross had a son and his wife, Rachael, is six months pregnant.
The sense of family within the RCMP was also touched on Geoffrey McLatchie, the spiritual adviser for the Gevaudan family.
'[Fabrice] had the RCMP family of which he was innately proud. He loved being a member of the RCMP family, he cherished each day that he went to work, to work in the community to be part of the community to be a protector to the community,' he said. Procession lined Moncton street
The caskets were brought to the Moncton Coliseum by a huge procession of RCMP officers as citizens lined both sides of Millennium Boulevard in the southeastern New Brunswick city.
The majority of those lining the procession route were wearing red in honour of the slain Mounties.
Behind the hearse that was bringing the body of slain officer Dave Joseph Ross to the funeral was his dog, Danny. Ross was a dog handler with the RCMP.
Gov.-Gen. David Johnston and Prime Minister Stephen Harper are also in attendance to pay their respects to the families of constables Gevaudan, Rossand Larche.
It was expected the two Mounties who were injured in last week's shootings, constables Éric Stéphane J. Dubois and Marie Darlene Goguen, would attend the funeral.
Staff Sgt. Major Gilles Côté, who co-ordinated the funeral, said an estimated 7,000 RCMP officers and first responders are in Moncton for the service. Live coverage of the funeral
Coverage of the funeral for the three slain RCMP officers is airing on CBC Television and CBC News Network.
The service is also being live streamed on CBCNews.ca and carried on CBC Radio One.
He said his goal was to honour the slain officers 'in the best way we can as an organization.'
In all, seven planes loaded with police officers from across Canada and the United States flew into Moncton on Tuesday morning.Law enforcement officers from other countries, such as Great Britain, are also at the funeral.
The city is also taking a number of steps to help the funeral's organizers. For instance, Moncton has taken its Codiac Transit buses out of their regular rotation.
'We certainly understand that some people rely on the service; however, the RCMP needs our help at this time,' said Isabelle LeBlanc, a communications officer for the City of Moncton.
'They've asked us to transport officers back and forth for the ceremony, so we've certainly tried to accommodate that.'
Transit buses from Halifax and Saint John are also in Moncton to help officers get around.
The city has organized 10 remote viewing sites around Moncton so people could mourn together. 'The best thing we could do is to say, thank you'
The funeral follows the public visitation for the Mounties that drew large crowds on Monday.
Nicky Carrier was one of the many Moncton residents who turned out to the visitation. His family lives in the area that was locked down last week and he said it is important that the RCMP understands how much the public appreciates their service.
'Everywhere I went this week, I stopped, if I saw a police car I followed them and stopped and said, thank you,' he said.
'I think the best thing we could do is to say, thank you for taking care of our community and our children and my family.'
Paul Thebeau drove to Moncton from Shediac with his son for the visitation on Monday.
'I mean we love the RCMP because they're protecting us all the time. So we have to be here, it's our turn to show our respect,' Thebeau said.
The outpouring of public support for the RCMP has manifested itself in other ways since the deadly shootings.
There had been a call-out on Monday for Moncton residents to open up their homes to visiting RCMP and other law enforcement officers who will be attending the funeral. Flood of offers as home billets arranged
The request had to be suspended due to the 'overwhelming' response, according to the City of Moncton.
A volunteer organization arranged home billets so visiting officers have a place to stay. The group said on Monday it was getting about a call a minute from people offering to put visitors up in their homes. On mobile? Follow the liveblog here. Official program for regimental funeral
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