The mournful sound of bag pipes filled a Quebec City church today, as hundreds paid tribute to Mark Bourque, the retired RCMP officer killed in Haiti earlier this month.

The ceremony was held at Basilique Notre-Dame de Quebec. Family and friends were joined by RCMP and Quebec provincial police officers, RCMP Commissioner Giuliano Zaccardelli and Gov. Gen. Michaelle Jean.

The Governor General, who was born in Haiti, met with Bourque in October before he left for the troubled country. She spoke briefly with Bourque's family.

Bourque was remembered as a man who helped Haitians feel safe, when he could have lived a quiet life in Quebec.

"It's hard to understand it in Mark's case because he put aside a well-deserved retirement after a distinguished career in the RCMP," RCMP Supt. Jacques Tanguay said in his eulogy.

The slain retired officer was also remembered as a religious man who sought to lead a righteous and good life.

Bill Cowper, a retired sergeant with the Halifax Regional Police, recalled how Bourque once gave him a medallion of the Catholic icon Brother Andre for protection.

"I wear it to this day," Cowper told mourners.

Cpl. Laurie Bourque, a distant relative, said Bourque was a kind man who was respectful even to the criminals he spent his life chasing.

"He wasn't a tough cop, he was a good cop," he said.

"The Charter of Rights was not meant for men like Mark. He was respectful. He had a job to do, he would do his job the best way he could."

Bourque, 57, from Stoneham, Que., was one of 23 Canadian retired officers serving with a UN mission to help train local police ahead of Jan. 8 elections.

He died in hospital less than two hours after an unknown assailant opened fire on the unmarked rental vehicle he was driving in the volatile Port-au-Prince slum known as Cite Soleil.

Bourque had been driving a fellow Canadian to the airport to catch a flight home for the holidays. His colleague was not wounded.

The UN's military police has launched an investigation into the shooting.

UN officials have already said they believe that Bourque was the victim of a botched kidnapping attempt, rather than a targeted shooting.

Bourque, a 35-year veteran of the RCMP, leaves a wife of 30 years and two children, aged 30 and 33.

He was the sixth peacekeeper to die in action since the UN mission arrived in Haiti to stabilize the violence-racked country in June 2004, four months after a bloody rebellion ousted former President Jean-Bertrand Aristide.

With files from The Canadian Press