Alexandra Duguay was one of two UN workers confirmed dead Tuesday in the Haiti quake. (CBC)

Two United Nations workers from Canada were confirmed dead Tuesday, having been killed in last week's devastating earthquake in Haiti.

Renée Carrier, from Saint-Paul-de-Montminy, Que., was a special assistant to Hedi Annabi, the head of the UN mission in Haiti who was also killed in the disaster. She had gone to Haiti at Annabi's request.

Alexandra Duguay, 31, from Quebec City, was a communications officer for the mission and had been in Port-au-Prince for a year.

A UN spokeswoman would not immediately confirm or deny Duguay's death when contacted in New York, and the Canadian government would officially confirm only 13 Canadian deaths in Haiti.

"The body of our beautiful Alexandra was found around midnight," her mother, Marie-Dominique Bédard, wrote Tuesday on a Facebook page dedicated to UN staff in Haiti. "It appears she died in the first minutes of the quake."

An eyewitness had spotted Duguay inside the UN building in Port-au-Prince just before it collapsed. Her boyfriend, Marc-André Franche, who also worked at the mission, survived.

Duguay, who was committed to humanitarian aid and helping children, was on a two-year stint in Haiti.

Carrier was a 30-year veteran of the UN who had been previously posted to field missions in Haiti, Western Sahara and Eritrea.

Colleagues said she was a petite, dynamic woman with a strong work ethic and a flair for the diplomacy necessary for peacekeeping missions. She had been looking forward to retiring soon.

Both women had also worked at the UN headquarters in New York.

Tributes posted online

The UN staff Facebook page turned into a massive tribute to Duguay after news of her death was posted, with heartfelt recollections arriving from around the world.

Several pages of photos were posted, showing a young woman who loved going out to dinner with friends, ran in marathons, enjoyed clowning around and loved to travel.

One photo taken at the UN shows Duguay pulling a Canadian flag out to its full length from among a line of flags of UN member countries and standing it beside it proudly.

Smiles, kindness, intelligence and high spirits seemed to be her trademarks, judging by her friends' comments.

One friend, who identified herself as Julia, recalled Duguay showing her the ropes when she came to the UN as "a nervous young press officer."

"You matter-of-factly helped me look through the giant filing cabinets behind the media counter to find all the 3rd Committee reports …

"You were one of the first UN people I got to know, a perfect example of the type of ambitious, … accomplished, multilingual, effortlessly cool young person who is drawn to New York and the UN."

She added that everyone who ever met Duguay will remember her.

Hidemi Takagi recalled meeting Duguay when she was in her early 20s and said she was a "sweet girl … very pretty, likes music/records, told me lots of the funniest stories."

Khaled Dawoud wrote that seeing Duguay's smile at the beginning of the day cheered everyone up.

"I can just see you walking around the UN corridors, almost running instead of walking, smiling and joking with everyone. You were kind and helpful.

"I was hoping till [the] last minute you will make it because [you] loved life."

With files from The Canadian Press