Regimental funeral underway for B.C. RCMP officer killed in the line of duty

The sound of bagpipes rang out in the crisp autumn air in Richmond, B.C., as Mounties paid tribute to one of their own with a procession and service honouring an officer killed on the job last month.

RCMP Const. Shaelyn Yang, 31, a homeless and mental health outreach officer, was fatally stabbed while responding to a call about a man in a tent in a park in Burnaby, B.C., just east of Vancouver, on Oct. 18.

She is being remembered Wednesday with a regimental funeral that began with a street procession and will end at the Richmond Olympic Oval, where mourners gathered at at 11 a.m. PT to say their final goodbyes — and thank yous — to Yang.

"She paid the ultimate sacrifice," said Burnaby RCMP Staff Sgt. Major David Douangchanh, who helped organize the event. 

CBC News is livestreaming the procession and funeral until the end of the event.

The streets of Richmond, which borders Vancouver to the south, were a parade of colour as Mounties marched in red serge and first responders from across the country and Washington state paraded to the funeral venue.

The slap of their boots on the concrete and the steady beat of drums kept time as a crowd of public mourners stood by in sombre solidarity.

The procession was led by the RCMP E Division Pipe Band and, as is RCMP tradition, included a riderless horse known as a charger as a tribute to the fallen officer.

Yang's casket was carried by a hearse surrounded by honorary police pallbearers, while colleagues who trained with Yang, or knew her personally, kept step behind the hearse.

Significant road closures and traffic restrictions in the area around the Richmond Olympic Oval will be in effect until at least 1:30 p.m. PT. RCMP are warning motorists that roadways on both sides of the Fraser River near the Vancouver International Airport South Terminal are affected. 

Douangchanh estimated at least a thousand additional first responders including municipal police officers, firefighters, paramedics and members of the armed forces would attend the event. 

Shortly before 11 a.m., the procession ended and participants filed into the funeral venue. 

Yang's casket, draped in the Canadian flag, was carried by pallbearers to the front of the room as the primarily uniformed audience watched in silence. 

Hats in hand and hands on heart, the mourners stood for the national anthem before the ceremony began.