A very special vigil in honour of Canada’s World War I war dead is taking place.  It began at sunset November 4th and will continue through to sunrise November 11th.

The names of the 68,000 men and women will be projected over a week of nights onto the National War Memorial in Ottawa, buildings in other regions of Canada and onto the side of Canada House in Trafalgar Square in London, England.

The vigil start at 5:00pm  each evening with the first name appearing at 5:15pm. Each night’s vigil will be 13 hours long, ending at sunrise the following day. The vigil will then recommence at 5:00pm and run another 13 hours. The last name will appear as dawn breaks on November 11th.

More than 9,700 names will appear each night. Each individual name will appear only once during the seven nights. These include those killed in the Canadian Expeditionary Force, the Royal Newfoundland Regiment, the Canadian Merchant Navy and the Canadian Army Medical Corps.

Since many Canadians cannot travel to the sites where the vigil will take place, organizers have set up a comprehensive website at www.1914-1918.ca which allows Canadians to participate.

Here you will be able to view live what is taking place at the Ottawa National Vigil.  As well, you can find the exact night and time when a specific name will appear, using the Search Names tab located at the top of the webpage. The names appearing in the vigil will have no order or ranking as each man or woman was equal in death.

The website also allows you to view the simultaneous vigil presentations created on each region’s webpage and in London, England across 9 time zones.  Those who wish to attend in person are asked to bear in mind the time differences.  For example,  the Ottawa National vigil will commence 5 hours after the London International vigil. The Regina vigil will start 1 hour after Ottawa. But wherever you live, the vigil will commence at 5:00pm local time.

Perhaps more importantly the project will continue to exist long after the last veteran’s name has faded from view and will remain online at historysociety.ca/vigil as a means for communities to share their commemoration of World War I veterans with all Canadians.

Veterans’ Week held November 5th to 11th is a time to honour and remember all those who served Canada in times of war, military conflict and peace and were there when we needed them most.   I ask you to take the time to purchase and wear a poppy and more importantly, to remember that our Veterans were ordinary men and women who did extraordinary things. 

I encourage you to attend the community events that will  honour our Veterans .  This year I will be taking part in events in Lake Country, my wife Cindy will represent me at the Kelowna City Park cenotaph and my staff member Linda will be at the Rutland Centennial Park cenotaph.  Taking part in remembrance events develops a deeper understanding of the sacrifices and achievements of those who have served and continue to serve our country.

In this way we not only pay tribute to all Canadian Veterans, but we also honour those in Afghanistan and other areas of conflict.