Legion urges people to honour veterans without attending ceremonies

Even though there won't be public Remembrance Day ceremonies in Thunder Bay this year, people are still asked to find a way to honour the country's past and present military members.

Every year, hundreds of people in Thunder Bay gather to honour the service of the men and women in our country's military history. But with the COVID-19 pandemic, and restrictions around public gatherings, local organizers said there was no way to hold public ceremonies.

A scaled-back service will be held at Waverley Park at the cenotaph and on Mount McKay, and the annual indoor ceremony at Fort William Gardens is replaced with a small event at city hall. But members of the public are asked to not attend.

Les Newman, the president of the Port Arthur Royal Canadian Legion Branch 5 in Thunder Bay, said organizers found they hit the maximum number of people allowed for an outdoor event with the colour party and those directly involved in the ceremony.

"The area around the cenotaph at Waverley Park is going to be cordoned off with barricades," he said. "The bulk of the wreaths will be pre-positioned. As it stands, three wreaths will be laid at 11 a.m. one by the Silver Cross mother, one by our branch and one by our ladies' auxiliary."

A virtual ceremony was pre-recorded late last month for veterans unable to attend, in place of the typical tradition of having a colour party visit retirement homes.

There are also plans for the Waverley Park ceremony to be live streamed.

Newman said, despite people not being able to attend ceremonies, he hopes they will still pause at 11 a.m. to reflect and remember.

"We keep losing our veterans as they get older," Newman said. "There are new veterans based on Afghanistan, Bosnia and the other missions the government has come up with for the military, but the [Second World War] veterans are getting few and far between.

"Everything that's been done for us by the veterans from World War I, World War II and the Korean War, it's basically made us who and what we are and given us what we have. We want to keep that remembrance there in some form."