People in Manitoba and across Canada paused on Monday to reflect on the sacrifices made by Canadian members of the Armed Forces past and present.
More than 4,000 people attended the Remembrance Day ceremony at the Winnipeg Convention Centre. Manitoba’s Lieutenant Governor Philip Lee presided over the ceremony. Winnipeg Mayor Sam Katz and Premier Greg Selinger also attended.
Some in the audience sobbed as they listened to stories of Canadian military campaigns, in particular the Korean War. This is the Year of the Korean War Veteran.
Reverend Bruce Miles, whose brother died during an air force bombing mission over Germany in the Second World War, addressed the crowd. He noted that Remembrance Day is a chance to reflect on the freedom that Canadians enjoy.
“But wait, are we not finding that is being abused?” he said. “Instead of service there is privilege. The freedom to appoint someone to a high office because you hold a high office, is that freedom? Is it freedom to close veterans offices across the land? To release service personnel just prior to retirement?
“Somewhere I’m hearing voices from another place. Voices who went and never returned. What are they saying? What’s going on? What did we die for?”
The ceremony included the passing of the torch, a reading of “In Flanders Field,” and a moment of silence at 11:00 a.m.
Winnipeggers also attended ceremonies around the city. Hundreds gathered for the ceremony at the corner of Valour Road and Sargent Avenue. Valour Road used to be called Pine Street, and was home to three heroes of the First World War - Leo Clarke, Fred Hall and Robert Shankland - all awarded the Victoria Cross, the highest honour for bravery in the British Commonwealth.
Winnipeg's naval community also remembered the lives lost in battle with a special tribute to the local naval veterans attending the ceremony and a lieutenant from HMCS Chippawa who recently returned home from Afghanistan. HMCS Chippawa is one of the original six naval reserves in Canada.
In Ottawa, the annual Remembrance Day ceremonies played out in sombre dignity in wet snow under grey skies. Thousands crowded around the towering granite arch of the National War Memorial to watch the ritual.
Governor General David Johnston, wearing a naval uniform, presided over the ceremonies, along with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.
They placed wreaths at the foot of the memorial, as did Niki Psiharis, the Silver Cross mother. Her youngest son, Sergeant Chris Karigiannis, was killed by a roadside bomb in Afghanistan in 2007.
Senior military officers, politicians and members of the diplomatic corps, veterans groups and others also laid wreaths as a children's choir sang. Afterwards, hundreds of people pressed forward to place their poppies on the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier, forming a crimson shroud on the grey granite.
They then gathered along the roadside to applaud as soldiers and veterans marched past.
- With files from The Canadian Press
