Mourners lined the snowy streets of a Quebec city Saturday afternoon to pay tribute to a soldier killed earlier this month in Afghanistan.

Cynthia Blais, second from left, wife of late Cpl. Richard Renaud, and her parents Josee and Jerome Blais, right, at the funeral service on Saturday.
(Clement Allard/Canadian Press)

Trooper Richard Renaud, 26, died Jan. 15 when the light armoured vehicle carrying him struck a roadside bomb in the Arghandab district north of Kandahar city. Two other soldiers suffered minor injuries in the blast.

Friends and family gathered for his funeral in Saguenay, about 200 kilometres north of Quebec City.

"He loved his country," Renaud's father, Jean-Marc, told the all-news TV station LCN after the funeral. "He defended his convictions with vigour. He was proud … and for me, he was a hero."
 
Renaud, who is originally from Alma, Que., leaves behind a pregnant wife, four-year-old stepson, parents and a sister.

A member of the Valcartier-based 12e Regiment blinde du Canada, he joined the military in 2004 and was on his first overseas mission.

Trooper Richard Renaud was killed during a routine patrol in the Arghandab district of Kandahar province.
(DND)

"We lost a buddy," said Cpl. Philippe Bernier after the service. "He was somebody who was always ready to help others, he was somebody who was always positive."

Federal Labour Minister Jean-Pierre Blackburn, who represents the local riding, said Renaud was the first from the region to die in Afghanistan and called for Canadians to think of the soldier's wife and family.

"As a government, we should also give him all the honours he has earned," he said.

With files from the Canadian Press