Bells tolled as thousands of people packed a white church in the Îles de la Madeleine, Que., on Saturday for the funerals of three sealers who died last week.

The casket of seal hunter Marc-André Déraspe is carried from church by his hockey teammates after Saturday's funeral services for him, Bruno Bourque and Gilles Leblanc in Cap-aux-Meules in Îles de la Madeleine, Quebec.
(Ryan Remiorz/Canadian Press)

Their disabled trawler, L'Acadien II, was being towed by a coast guard icebreaker when it hit a block of ice in the Gulf of St. Lawrence and capsized. The bodies of Capt. Bruno Bourque, Gilles Leblanc and Marc-André Déraspe were recovered. A fourth sealer, Carl Aucoin, is missing and presumed dead. His family will hold a funeral at a later date.

Two other crew members from the 12-metre-long vessel survived.

There were lineups early Saturday afternoon outside the Saint-Pierre de Lavernière church, where friends and family members gathered to mourn the dead sealers.

Bourque's daughter Audrey called her father a "hero," while Leblanc's sister Carmen said her brother was "the captain of our family."

Mourners clapped as a sealskin was placed over one of the coffins as a show of pride in the men's profession.

"Sometimes the sea gives us food, but another time the same sea takes our men," said Rev. Mario Doyle.

Îles-de-la-Madeleine Mayor Joel Arseneau said while the week has been an emotional roller-coaster, the funerals mark the start of a long healing process.

"Well today it's sad, but at the same time, it's like life is still there and that's what we saw in the service," he said. "Life will go on and people will never forget this emotional week. Now it's part of our history, part of our identity."

All six crew members are from the Îles de la Madeleine, a chain of islands that are part of Quebec and home to about 13,000 people.

Several questions have been raised about the accident. Witnesses and survivors have said that there was no one on the icebreaker's deck monitoring as the L'Acadien II ran into trouble.

On Friday, Fisheries Minister Loyola Hearn announced that retired navy rear admiral Roger Girouard will be in charge of an investigation into the accident.

The investigation will look into coast guard policies and work practices, particularly as they relate to towing.

Girouard is expected to present his final report to Hearn and the commissioner of the Canadian Coast Guard in the fall. It will then be released to the families of those involved and, finally, the public.

With files from the Canadian Press