‘She is the village’s guardian angel’: National Silver Cross Mother remembers daughter killed in Afghanistan

Josée Simard will represent all mothers who lost sons or daughters in military service to the country on Remembrance Day and for the next year.

Drive through the small village of Les Méchins, QC, and there’s a monument you’re not likely to miss.

Right on the main road, at the base of a Canadian flag, lit up at night, there’s a statue of a young woman.

The people here knew her. It’s that kind of place. It’s small enough that when Karine Blais was killed in Afghanistan, it was a loss for all of Les Méchins.

“It was as though the war felt very close,” says Josée Simard, Karine’s mother. “Someone from the village had left on a mission, and didn’t come back.“

Simard has been selected by the Canadian Legion as this year’s National Silver Cross Mother. On Remembrance Day, and for the next year, she will represent all mothers who lost sons or daughters in military service to the country.

Blais was killed April 13, 2009, on patrol north of Kandahar. She was driving a Coyote armoured vehicle when it hit an improvised explosive device. The vehicle was flipped, Blais was killed and two other soldiers were injured.

Simard says she’s been asked to be the Silver Cross Mother before but has always declined. The family’s normal tradition is to get together at their home with men and women who were with her daughter in Afghanistan. Some have left the military, others are still serving, but they like to be together on Nov. 11 and to remember Karine. Simard will be in Ottawa for this year’s Remembrance Day, but she says the friends are still getting together at her home.

“Everyone adored her,” Simard says.