'I get goosebumps': Canadians across the country mark Remembrance Day

OTTAWA -

An echoing peal of cannon fire signalled the start of a moment of silence Monday in St. John's, N.L., and throngs of people along the city's two main downtown streets fell quiet and bowed their heads.

Across Canada, dignitaries marked Remembrance Day by laying wreaths at ceremonies, school children sang in the late fall chill and veterans recalled the horrors of battle.

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Canadians gathered in cities and towns to honour the sacrifice of men and women in uniform who gave their lives in service of the country's values and principles.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Gov. Gen. Mary Simon paid their respects in a ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa. 

They were joined by this year's Silver Cross Mother, Maureen Anderson of New Brunswick, whose two sons served in Afghanistan.

Sgt. Ron Anderson and Sgt. Ryan Anderson each died after a battle with post-traumatic stress disorder. Their mother represented the mothers left behind by all service members killed in the line of duty. 

The mournful sound of the Last Post was heard at cenotaphs and monuments as Canadians took a moment at 11 a.m. to pay silent respects to the fallen.

"Throughout our history, the men and women of the Canadian Armed Forces have kept our country safe," Trudeau said in a social media post before the Ottawa ceremony.

"Some returned home from the battlefield and were never the same. Others never returned at all. It is a debt we can never repay, and one we will never forget."

Canadian war veterans salute during the playing of "The Last Post" at a Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial in Ottawa on Monday, Nov. 11, 2024.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Veterans Affairs Canada estimates the current Canadian war veteran population at 7,300 people — 6,142 men and 1,158 women — based on 2021 census data.

Royal Canadian Legion president Berkley Lawrence, 70, said the day gives people a "chance to remember what happened, how we get our freedom today."

It was the first Remembrance Day in St. John's to be held at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier. The soldier fought and died in France during the First World War, and was reinterred in Newfoundland this year.

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Sculptor Morgan MacDonald, who made the bronze forget-me-not flowers that decorate the tomb, said it was an honour to be given such important work.

Joanne Geddes, district commander of the Nova Scotia and Nunavut legions, said she was touched to see how many people of all ages turned up despite wind and rain at the cenotaph in Halifax's Grand Parade.

Hearing the bands play and the cannons ring out brought on chills, Geddes said. "I get goosebumps. I well up. It’s emotional in a good way, in a sad way."

Paul Baiden, who served during the Cold War era, said he was thinking of mates from aircraft carrier HMCS Bonaventure "and everybody, basically, that lost their lives." 

"Every day my group gets smaller," he said in Ottawa as a tear formed in his eye. "From our crew … there's maybe 20 of us left."

In the national capital, the sunny sky turned grey and light rain fell, matching the solemn mood.

Ninety-eight-year-old John Preece, who was a private in the Second World War, said it is difficult to explain what it's like to be in combat. "When you face somebody shooting at you, and you don't even know them and they don't know you. And it's not very nice, and that's all I can say. It's really a terrible scene."

John Young, 66, a retired chief warrant officer, asked that Canadians think of troops in Latvia who have left behind spouses and children — and all the high school and kindergarten graduations they will miss. 

"This is the commitment that people who wear the uniform have agreed to willingly," he said. 

"I reflect on my own mother. I have no idea of the angst that she went through when both my brother and I were deployed at the same time. In her later years, she said, 'I didn’t sleep when you guys were gone.'"

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Each cannon boom from a 21-gun salute set off a wave of car alarms in Montreal during a ceremony held in English, French and occasionally Mohawk.

Matthew Krisko-MacCormack brought a photo of his grandfather, late First World War veteran Joseph MacCormack. He said he was thinking of people like his grandfather, who left his small P.E.I. farming community to defend home and country, and who later died as a result of injuries he suffered overseas.

Former Ontario lieutenant governor Richard Rohmer helped lead ceremonies at the provincial Veterans' Memorial outside Queen's Park in Toronto.

The 100-year-old Rohmer told the crowd about his role helping to end the Second World War as a reconnaissance fighter pilot, taking out a key bridge in the Netherlands that trapped German forces in May 1945. 

Unable to cross the river, the Germans surrendered, he recalled.

"I'm just lucky to be alive."

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2024

With files from Sarah Smellie in St. John's, N.L., Lyndsay Armstrong in Halifax, Morgan Lowrie in Montreal, Liam Casey in Toronto, and Kyle Duggan and David Baxter in Ottawa