Sheila Fynes became Victoria's Silver Cross Mother three years ago after a chance encounter. In 2008, Fynes, her husband Shawn and youngest son Michael had laid a wreath for son Cpl. Stuart Langridge at Victoria's cenotaph after the official ceremony had ended.
Pat Paterson, chairman of the Victoria Remembrance Day Committee (Poppy Fund), saw the family and approached Fynes to see if she had any interest in becoming the local Silver Cross Mother.
Fynes explained her son had returned from Afghanistan with posttraumatic stress disorder and suggested they might not want her. But Paterson and Roger McBride, the committee administrator, were undeterred. They have "shown courage" in their support of her family, Fynes said.
"It's hugely significant that they stepped up," she said during a gathering Sunday at the Trafalgar-Pro Patria Legion Branch No. 292, off Gorge Road.
Langridge's parents maintain he was not properly supported by the Canadian Forces. He took his own life in 2008. The military has insisted that alcohol and drugs were at the root of his problems.
The Fynes allege that three National Investigation Service inquiries into Langridge's death were biased in favour of the military.
A Military Police Complaints Commission inquiry has yet to rule on the matter. Federal lawyers have been given until January to present their final arguments.
The inquiry was due to end Nov. 15, but the federal Justice Department legal team has asked for more time to analyze evidence and the testimony of 91 witnesses.
Fynes said she never asked that the inquiry be done fast, only that it be done well.
