OTTAWA — When Nancy Payne lays a wreath on Remembrance Day at the National War Memorial, it won’t be the first time she’s represented mothers of Canadian soldiers who have died in combat.
But it will be her first on such a stage.
Payne has laid a wreath at her local Remembrance Day ceremony as a Silver Cross Mother every year since 2006, when her son was killed in Afghanistan.
While Payne typically attends her local ceremony in Lansdowne, Ont., her husband David Payne — who served 30 years in the Canadian Armed Forces infantry — attends the larger ceremony 15 minutes down the road in Gananoque.
“We spread ourselves around so we’re not both at the same one, so we’re out and about in the community,” Nancy said.
This year, they’ll be attending the ceremony together in Ottawa, as Payne will lay a wreath as the national Silver Cross Mother on Nov. 11.
The national Silver Cross Mother is named annually by the Royal Canadian Legion.
Cpl. Randy Joseph Payne was killed in action on April 22, 2006, while serving as a member of the military’s “close protection team” — a unit tasked with safeguarding VIPs, like the prime minister, or chief of defence staff.
Randy had been guarding Brig.-Gen. David Fraser, now retired, at the time he was killed, only three months into his deployment, and two years after he joined the Armed Forces as a Military Police officer.
Fraser wasn’t with the unit when a roadside bomb struck their armoured vehicle, known as a G-wagon, while they were returning to Kandahar Airfield. Randy was one of four soldiers killed in the explosion.
It was the deadliest attack on Canadian Forces in four years at the time.
“General Fraser had left by helicopter the night before. So the next day, Randy and the crew were heading back to the base in Kandahar,” Payne recalled.
“So I think the people that did it, the Taliban, thought that Fraser was in the vehicle that Randy was driving, and Fraser had taken off the night before. So they took out four innocent people.”
Payne said she’s nervous for the week ahead, as she’ll have a week full of events in Ottawa leading up to the ceremony, noting playfully that she’s “not young anymore.”
“I was very, very surprised, but very honoured and I felt very humbled to be representing all the mothers of Canada, she said.
“Yeah, is quite an honour for sure.”
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 1, 2025.
Nick Murray, The Canadian Press
