Thousands gathered at Remembrance Day ceremonies in Nova Scotia

People across Nova Scotia gathered for Remembrance Day ceremonies this morning that honour and remember those who have served.

CBClivestreamedthe event at Grand Parade in Halifax that beganshortly before 11 a.m.

This year's ceremony marks a return to downtown Halifaxafter the 2023 event was moved toSullivans Pond in Dartmouth due to Grand Parade being adesignated encampment site amid the city's housing crisis. The municipality closed the site to tentslast winter.

Mi'kmawElderMarlene Companionperformeda smudging ceremony, a first for the Remembrance Day event at Grand Parade.

Jean Noel laida wreath in memory of her brother, Master Cpl. Kirk Bradley Noel, who is this year's Memorial Cross recipient.He served in the navy before becoming a search and rescue technician.

Noelwas killed in 2006 during a training exercise when a Cormorant helicopter crashed offCanso, N.S.

The Royal Canadian Legion has a list of ceremonies across the province and people can search for the gathering closest to them. They include nine in the Halifax Regional Municipality, eight in Cape Breton and more than a dozen in communities across the mainland.

The Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa at theNational War Memorial began at 10:30 a.m. ET.

It's been 80 years since D-Day, which marked the beginning of the end of the Second World War. It has also been10 years since the end of the mission in Afghanistan, 60 years of peacekeeping operations in Cyprus, and the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Air Force.