A somber service held at the Basillica in honour of 18 people who went down with Cougar Flight 491 has concluded.
The deeply spiritual ecumenical service drew people from all walks of life, including some family and friends of the 17 people who died aboard the helicopter crash.
Quoting poet Robert Frost, Archbishop Martin Currie reminded more than 1,000 people in the church that while changed and different, “life goes on.”
Prime Minister Stephen Harper, along with other government officials and hundreds of members of the public attended the event at St. John the Baptist Basilica in St. John’s.
It was standing room only in the church, which was surrounded by security, police, and media from across the country.
Rev. Edison Wiltshire, director of the EZRA Chaplaincy opened the service before spiritual leaders from all faiths represented in St. John’s stepped forward to offer condolences to those who lost loved ones and to wish a full recovery to lone survivor Robert Decker. 
The service included scripture readings prayers and hymns. Martin Currie, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of St. John’s, will deliver the sermon.

The names of 17 deceased are:
• Matthew Davis, 34, St. John’s (Pilot)
• John Pelley, 41, Deer Lake
• Corey Eddy, 32, Paradise (originally from Sibley’s Cove)
• Tim Lanouette, 48, Comox, B.C. (First officer)
• Thomas Anwyll, 46, Langley, B.C.
• Peter Breen, 55, St. John’s
• Gary Corbett, 46, Conception Bay South   
• Wade Drake, 42, Fortune   
• Wade Duggan, 32, Witless Bay
• Colin Henley, 38, St. John’s
• Ken MacRae, 47, Greenwood, N.S.
• Derrick Mullowney, 51, Bay Bulls
• Burch Nash 44, Fortune
• Paul Pike, 49, Shearstown
• Allison Maher, 26, Aquaforte
• Keith Escott of St. John’s
• Gregory Morris of Outer Cove