Watching the Remembrance Day Ceremony from Ottawa

Starting with O Canada from the Ottawa Children’s Choir.

Then the Last Post and 2 minutes of silence.

11th Hour, 11th Day, 11th Month.

God rest their souls.

And the 21 gun salute has started at the provincial Legislature.

Silence ends with a lone piper playing the “Flowers of the Forest.”

One shot of an aged vet, holding the salute, with frost in his grey moustache and oxygen tube.

And now “The Rouse” by the trumpeter.

And the Act of Rembrance:

“They shall not grow old…”

In English, French and a First Nations language.

Prayers for remembrance by the Major General, chaplain of the Armed Forces.

Prayers and Response: “We will remember them.”

One prayer:”We will remember those Canadians born outside of Canada yet joined in the struggle.”

Laying of wreaths by dignitaries and representatives, starting with the GovGen, while the Children’s Choir sings “In Flanders Fields” en français.

Silver Cross Mother lays a wreath on behalf of all Silver Criss mothers. Her son died in Afghanistan.

Then the PM and other dignitaries.

Artillery salute continues and the pipe band is playing.

One commentator just mentioned Nathan Cirillo, the member of the Armed Forces who was shot and killed while standing guard right there, at the War Memorial.

Bénédiction delivered by Rabbi.

And closing: “God Save the Queen” in mix of English and French.

GovGen in uniform as C-in-C now chatting with veterans and serving members.

And now, the ordinary Canadians are coming forward to lay their poppies on the Tomb as the military members and veterans parade off with pipes playing.

I saw the first hour on television. The coverage was decent, but Rememberance shouldn’t be limited to one day a year. Canada shows less appreciation for veterans than it should. It should start by granting extended medical care to the direct families of those serving Canada, who need to be in the best possible physical and mental health.

Went to the local ceremony in Manotick (a bit south of Ottawa). DH is the padre for the Legion branch here. It was cold. Even colder because there was no opportunity to move around. Hot buttered rum afterwards was appreciated.

I have never felt unappreciated, so that is good. :slight_smile:

I stand by my previous words. God rest the souls of those who served and died defending our freedoms. May we never forget these efforts, nor trivialize democracy and human rights, nor forget the values that men and women fought and died for, and that we cherish to this day and for every day. Though particularly on this day of reflection and remembrance.

Watching the ceremony this year, I think the CBC could do a better job. They do give a little background - too little. But when saying a traditional piece will be “translated into three languages”, couldn’t they identify what the third language is? How disrespectful that they did not.

They did not translate that (Inuktitut?) into English, thank goodness, but they did translate the English translated French back into English, identical to what was read thirty seconds ago, so one could not hear the French. This is not only useless, but to me disrespectful.

A dignified ceremony. Usually the jackets are much thicker.

(Aside: This penchant for overemphasis on translating is not without further problems, such as governmental lack of transparency or holding up vaccine distribution. It is also used an excuse for the government not to provide information by request, which claims an inflated cost for translating everything into French and making it accessible for the visually impaired. Regardless of who requested it. Obviously, not everyone requires this and, if done by request, the actual costs would be much lower.)

It was nice to see bigger crowds, given Covid has affected things since 2019.

Can anyone verify which “third language” was spoken at the Ottawa ceremony?

Queen?

I was there in person about 6 or 7 years ago. Very moving.