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She will never know who killed her youngest son, but the mother of Captain Matthew Dawe says she knows what killed him.

“I think it was hatred and intolerance,” Reine Dawe told reporters Wednesday in a news conference at CFB Kingston.

Ms. Dawe said she was proud of her son and the work he did in the military. And although it will be difficult, she said the family has to continue their daily lives, partly for the sake of Capt. Dawe's two-year-old son Lucas.

The family faced the media for the first time since Capt. Dawe was killed alongside five other soldiers in a roadside explosion on July 4.

Around Capt. Dawe's wife, Tara, sat his parents and his three older brothers. Capt. Dawe comes from a family steeped in military tradition. His father is a retired lieutenant-colonel, two brothers served in Afghanistan and the third has retired from the army.

Capt. Dawe's father said that despite previous media reports, his son was not losing hope in Canada's mission to Afghanistan. Rather, he said that his son was frustrated and angry when a roadside bomb killed three soldiers under his command on June 20.

His father, Peter, said the mission as a “guerrilla war.”

“You really don't know who your enemy is,” he said.

Through most of the news conference, Tara, dressed in a white striped shirt and brown dress pants, stared blankly, still overcome with grief over the loss of the love of her life and the father of her child.

She made a brief statement saying that she supports the mission. To the soldiers in Afghanistan, she said: “I am okay. I will be here when you come home. All I ask of you is to stay focused, stay safe and come home proud of the job you've done.”

Capt. Dawe, 27, was one of six Canadian soldiers who died along with an Afghan interpreter when their armoured vehicle was hit by a roadside bomb.

Ms. Dawe said the journey from Trenton on Sunday, when the soldiers' bodies were repatriated, was something she will never forget.

“Despite everything, I have never felt prouder or more moved,” she said.

“I have lost the love of my life and the father of my child, but a moment like this would have made Matt proud and that's going to help me to heal.”

Capt. Dawe was based in Edmonton with the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry. Two of his brothers served in Afghanistan in 2002.

Originally from Kingston, Ont., he is one of the highest-ranking Canadian officers killed to date in Afghanistan. He graduated at the top of his class at the Royal Military College, and at 27 was already battle-tested and six weeks away from completing his tour.

With files from Tenille Bonoguore