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Thompson celebrates a Remembrance Day that’s 100 years in the making

Despite the cold weather and lack of public transit , hundreds of Thompsonites still assembled inside the C.A. Nesbitt Arena on Sunday, Nov. 11 to commemorate the countless Canadian veterans who laid down their lives for their country.

Despite the cold weather and lack of public transit, hundreds of Thompsonites still assembled inside the C.A. Nesbitt Arena on Sunday, Nov. 11 to commemorate the countless Canadian veterans who laid down their lives for their country.

This year’s Remembrance Day ceremony carried a little more weight than usual, since it marked 100 years since the signing of the armistice that brought about the end to the First World War, a conflict that resulted in the deaths of over 60,000 Canadians.

This milestone didn’t escape the minds of local speakers like Mayor Colleen Smook, who reminded everyone in attendance that this conflict, which ran from 1914 to 1918, was originally billed as “the war to end all wars.”

“If you turn on your TV today you’ll see that’s not the case,” she said. “But in Canada we are so lucky to have our freedoms. We are so lucky to have the ability to take in other people from other countries to help improve their lives.”

While Canadian soldiers would go on to fight and die in several other large scale conflicts, like World War Two, the Korean War and the War in Afghanistan, Niki Ashton, the MP of Churchill—Keewatinook Aski, said that they did so in the spirit of cementing a “just and lasting peace.” 

“We must remember that initial commitment to peace, that ongoing commitment to peace, that so many soldiers in our forces have fought for,” she said.

Outside of featuring traditional Remembrance Day selections like “God Save the Queen,” the musical portions of Sunday’s ceremony also reflected the 100-year anniversary through a performance of “10,000 Reasons” by the Thompson Bell Choir.

After all, in the lead up to Nov. 11 the Royal Canadian Legion and Veterans Affairs Canada have been encouraging communities throughout the country to mimic the wave of church bells that rang out in Europe a century ago to signal the end of the First World War.

Otherwise, the rest of Sunday’s ceremony proceeded as planned, with many local businesses, organizations and government representatives placing wreaths at the foot of a model cenotaph in the middle of the arena. 

“We place wreaths at cenotaphs, we wear poppies on our lapels, we light candles at headstones and we shed tears in silence,” said Thompson MLA Kelly Bindle, referencing the similar rituals that took place across the country on Sunday.

“We do this in remembrance for the soldiers that died for our freedom. We owe them the reverence. We owe them our gratitude. We owe them everything and we will never forget that.”

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