Students and community members this week will honour the servicemen and women who sacrificed their time and for some, their life, to serve and protect Canada.
Schools across Westlock County will be commemorating Remembrance Day a day early on Nov. 10.
The first ceremony takes place at R.F. Staples Secondary School beginning 10:30 a.m., followed by Busby School at 10:30 a.m., Pembina North Community School at 10:45 a.m., and Westlock Elementary School at 12:30 a.m.
This year will mark 98 years since the end of the First World War, 71 years since the Second World War, 63 years since Korea, and even less for Canada’s involvement in other international conflicts.
“There are two words that we can say when you see a veteran whether old or young; we can say ‘thank you,’” chaplain Marjorie Steele said at a service last week.
“We need to stand alongside them and tell them how much we care and what they do is a great importance to us. We need them to know we appreciate their sacrifice and should do anything everything to make it right for them when they return home.”
R.F. Staples will hold a student-led ceremony featuring a speaker from the Edmonton Garrison.
“It’s important to have Remembrance Day because it’s a yearly reminder of all of those that have given their life and their time to protect our freedom here in Canada,” said R.F. Staples School principal Courtney Lawrance. “It’s remembering different people that have fought in the wars with connections to our local community, as well as the overall sacrifices of Canadians.”
Westlock Elementary School principal Pierre Ouimet said it’s important to recognize the contributions that have shaped Canada’s past.
“It’s part of our history and something that Canadians particularly can be proud of … and not just give it two minutes of silence and go on with your day,” he said. “It’s way more important than that.”
With almost 100 years since the armistice was signed to end the First World War, the school will incorporate a few modern elements alongside traditional parts of the ceremony, which includes representation from a member of an Indigenous community, a viewing of the Pittance of Time video, and a performance of One Tin Soldier and Danny Boy by an R.F. Staples student.
“Some of the imagery and clips that have been used at public ceremonies or schools have been of World War One and Two,” Ouimet noted. “I think that would resonate with people of my generation and maybe even a generation younger than me…Coming up for the kids now, it is so distant from them.”
Westlock’s Remembrance Day ceremony goes Nov. 11 at the Westlock and District Community Hall beginning at 10:30 a.m.
Legion Branch 97 president Dave Linsley, a serviceman with the Saskatchewan Dragoons Armoured Corps., will call upon the cadets to guard the Cenotaph, and then he will call the Colour Party and any RCMP that are present to march in.
Bugler Alex Shabert and piper Doug Whistance-Smith will lead the tribute, followed by Chaplain Steele, who also served in the Saskatchewan Dragoons Service Corps, to lead the program.
Musical guests will also include Mina Kwan on the flute, Carolyn Stolee on the piano. Wes Latimer, the nephew of Sandy Latimer, a 91-year-old Second World War veteran, will be the guest speaker.
“After the service is over, I usually pick up a few wreaths and take them to the cenotaph by the library,” Steele said. “I’ve been doing that since I’ve been chaplain, which is nine years.”
Refreshments and a light lunch will be served afterwards at the Hall. Prairie Sunset Funeral Home is supplying coffee and condiments, and the Westlock Funeral Home is providing hot dogs. Members of the Legion will bring sandwiches.
A dinner will be held back at the Legion branch that evening at 5 p.m. Veterans will have free entry, but are asked to come early to pick up a ticket. Tickets for guests and the community are $15 each.
The Clyde and District Ag. Society is also hosting a Remembrance Day ceremony Nov. 11 at the Clyde Community Hall at 10:15 a.m.
The ceremony is being organized by Isaac Brower-Berkhoven, a Navy veteran who served 26 years on ships and submarines off the coast of British Columbia.
“As long as people go and pay their respects to the men and women who surrendered their lives for our freedom, that’s the important issue for me,” he said.
Village of Clyde mayor Doug Nyal will make a welcome speech, with a women’s choir to accompany the services as children lay wreaths at the front.
“Depending how cold it is, we stay inside the hall,” Brower-Berkhoven said. “At the end, I go outside with the bugler and we raise a wreath at the cenotaph, which is right adjacent to the community hall.”
Minister Chris Lance of the Clyde Christian Bible Church will be the guest speaker. Retired servicemen and women will be in attendance and soldiers from Lord Strathcona’s Horse have also been invited.
Coffee and snacks will be provided at the hall, and guests are asked to bring a potluck lunch to the hall.
“We know everybody doesn’t bring something so we hope to have enough to feed a couple hundred people,” Brower-Berkhoven said.
