Sheila Anderson, this year's Silver Cross mother, is 1st from Northwest Territories

A Yellowknife woman who lost her son eight years ago laida wreath today at the National War Memorial in Ottawaon behalf of all mothers whose children have died in military service.

Sheila Anderson is the Royal Canadian Legion's Silver Cross mother for 2015-2016, the first ever from the Northwest Territories.

"I didn't need to think about it," Anderson said about being asked to lay the wreath. "I wouldn't give up the opportunity for anything."

Anderson's son Cpl. Jordan Anderson was killed, along with five other soldiers, by a roadside bomb outside Kabul, Afghanistan, on July 4, 2007, just a few weeks shy of his 26th birthday.He was a member of the Edmonton-based 3rd Battalion, Princess Patricia's Canadian Light Infantry as were three othersof thesix soldiers who died in the bomb attack.

Jordan Anderson was born in Iqaluit and grew up in Kugaaruk, Nunavut, and Tuktoyaktuk and Inuvik, Northwest Territories.

He was at university studying political science and Mandarin when he joined the Canadian Armed Forces, calling his parents after the fact to tell them he had joined.

"We were like, 'What? You don't listen to instructions, why did you join the army?' " Sheila Anderson recalled.

"I was a little disappointed, but you support your children no matter what they do and they will excel."

Non-conformist

Anderson said her son was close to finishinghis bachelor's degree and wasplanning to apply to amaster's program at the University of Calgary. Hewas fascinated by military strategy and wanted to be an intelligence officer. He thoughthe would have to learn French, and was considering programs he could take after finishinghis master's.

Anderson remembers her son's fierce intelligence, his curiosityand his penchant for getting into trouble. He was"a non-conformist," she said.

"He always had an opinion, and he always wanted to argue about it. We thought he should have been a lawyer," Anderson laughed.

She last spoke withhim three days before he was killed.

It's not only the dead that we have to remember;it's also the living.- Sheila Anderson

Jordan Anderson's widow, Amanda Anderson, said her husband was preparedfor his possible death in combat, and told herif it happened, he wanted people to "focus on the mission, not on the casualties."

After he died, Amanda Anderson found some of his writings.

"I'm not afraid todie. I know what I'm doing is rightand I've made arrangements for those Ilove. I know it won't be for nothing," he wrote.

• Listen here to a full interview with Sheila Anderson.

'You're not alone'

Sheila Anderson still struggles with her grief, butsaid she rarely feels alone with it. Even eight years later, people offer her their condolences. It's part of the reason she didn't hesitate to be the Silver Cross mother.

"I'm going tobe thinking that, for all the families that have lost loved ones, that you're not alone. That people in Canada care," she said.

"It's an opportunity to represent everyone, and to bring attention to the fact that it's not only the dead that we have to remember;it's also the living."