The UN's military police will conduct an investigation into the shooting death of a retired RCMP officer, gunned down in Haiti earlier this week.

The body of Mark Bourque was being flown home to Canada late Wednesday, after a contingent representing 30 nations saluted his flag-draped casket. There has been no word yet on funeral arrangements.

The 57-year-old father of two was part of a 25-person team of retired officers helping to prepare Haitian police for upcoming elections, slated to begin Jan. 8.

Bourque died in hospital on Tuesday, less than two hours after someone opened fire on the unmarked rental car he was driving. He had been taking a fellow Canadian to the airport to catch a flight home for the holidays.

Foreign Affairs Minister Pierre Pettigrew has called for an investigation into Bourque's death.

UN spokesman David Wimhurst said he was confident the shooter would be tracked down. The probe will include an analysis of the bullets, and other intelligence.

"But this is a long-term thing. There isn't going to be any short, quick answer to this one."

Wimhurst said that Bourque wasn't likely targeted but rather was the victim of a botched kidnap attempt.

"I don't think they were targeted because they were UN people," said Wimhurst. "They were probably targeted because they were travelling down that road -- that very dangerous road -- which is an area where the kidnappers like practising kidnapping."

Bourque was gunned down in a violent Port-au-Prince slum known as Cite Soleil. The area is known for its political tension.

Wimhurst said that he believes Bourque was in the area by accident.

"They were on their way to the airport, and that road goes to the airport, but it's not the route that anyone normally takes.''

Bourque's legacy

Bourque, from Stoneham, Que., was a veteran detective who made significant contributions to law enforcement in Canada that included taking on the powerful Cuntrera-Caruana clan -- Mafia money launderers.

William Marsden, a friend of Bourque's, said it was shortly after the two began working together in the mid '80s that the veteran detective began a journey to uncover the Cuntrera-Caruana group, which at the time was probably the biggest heroin and money-laundering organization in the world.

It all began in 1986, after the RCMP intercepted a controlled delivery of heroin into Montreal. One of the suspects arrested was Gerlando Caruana, who lived in a luxurious home in a Montreal suburb. It peaked Bourque's suspicions.

"And that let him on this journey which took him for the next five years tracking down the entire Cuntrera-Caruana network in Montreal, in London, in Switzerland, in Venezuela and into Sicily," Marsden told CTV's Canada AM.

At the time, money-laundering laws were non-existent in Canada. However, Bourque's work pushed the Canadian government to put money-laundering provisions into the Criminal Code.

Marsden said he told Bourque to keep a diary of his experiences in Haiti, because the veteran officer had an interest in journalism and writing.

"I thought it would be a really good thing to share his experiences," said Marsden.

Bourque was killed before Marsden had a chance to ask him about the diary. "I planned to speak to him when he got back, but no, we don't know" if he kept it.