The History of Remembrance Day in Canada

Remembrance Day is a yearly memorial day observed in many Commonwealth countries, including Canada, to remember those who died in military service and honour those who served in wartime. Each year, it is observed across Canada on November 11th, the anniversary of the Armistice agreement of 1918 that ended the First World War. On Remembrance Day, public ceremonies and church services often include the playing of “Last Post,” a reading of the fourth stanza of the poem “For the Fallen,” and two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. Wreaths are laid at local war memorials, and assemblies are held in schools. Millions of Canadians wear red poppy pins in the weeks leading up to and on November 11th in remembrance. In 2020 and 2021, Remembrance Day services and events were affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. Many events were either held online, cancelled or limited to a small number of participants due to fear of contagion.

Memorializing Fallen Soldiers Canadians memorialized fallen soldiers on Decoration Day and Paardeberg Day for many years before Remembrance Day was first observed as Armistice Day in 1919.

Decoration Day In 1890, veterans of the Battle of Ridgeway, June 2nd, 1866, held a protest at the Canadian Volunteers Monument at Queen’s Park, in Toronto, by laying flowers at the foot of the monument on the 24th anniversary of the battle. The history of the Battle of Ridgeway was muted in Canadian military heritage and history, and the Canadian government had been reluctant to acknowledge the veterans of the battle.

About 850 Canadian soldiers clashed with some 750 to 800 Irish-American Fenians at Ridgeway. Nine Canadians were killed in action, and 33 were wounded.

The veterans’ protest became an annual memorial event known as Decoration Day when graves and monuments of Canadian soldiers were decorated in flowers. For the next 30 years, Decoration Day was one of Canada’s popular military memorial days, commemorated on the weekend nearest to June 2nd. Remembering Canadians who died in the Battle of Ridgeway soon expanded to those killed during the North-West Resistance (1885), the South African War (1899–1902) and the First World War (1914–18).

Paardeberg Day Before the First World War, Canadians honoured their overseas War dead on Paardeberg Day, February 27th, the annual anniversary of the Battle of Paardegerg in 1900, during the South African War. The battle was Canada’s first foreign military victory.

From 1901 until the outbreak of the First World War in 1914, people gathered in public squares in cities and towns across the country, around newly built South African War memorials, to commemorate their soldiers’ service in South Africa. Paardeberg Day was less a sombre affair of remembrance than a victory celebration and an affirmation of English Canada’s loyalties to the British Empire.

First World War The horror and mass slaughter of the First World War (1914–18) changed Canadian perceptions of War. Millions of people were killed at sea and on battlefields across Europe, including 61,000 Canadians. Although Canada fought on the winning side, a celebration of victory was replaced by solemn commemoration and a sense that the country owed a collective national debt to the ordinary soldiers, mostly young men, who had lost their lives in battle.

This debt would be paid, in perpetuity by successive generations, by the simple act of remembering the soldiers’ sacrifice.

Armistice Day In April 1919, after the First World War ended, Member of Parliament (MP) Isaac Pedlow introduced a motion in the House of Commons to institute an annual “Armistice Day” held not on November 11th but on the second Monday of November each year.

Parliament was still deciding on a date for the commemoration when King George V sent out an appeal to the British Empire on November 6th, 1919. He urged that the armistice that ended the fighting be marked by the suspension of all activities, and the observance of two minutes of silence, at exactly 11 a.m. on November 11th, the same day of the year and time the armistice had been signed in 1918. Canadians commemorated Armistice Day on November 11th in 1919 and 1920.

In May 1921, an Act of Canada’s Parliament declared that an annual Armistice Day would be held on the Monday of the week in which November 11th fell. Oddly, the day was joined with the celebration of Thanksgiving Day, a day featuring sports, turkey dinners and light recreation. This anomaly, which confused the public and angered veterans of the First World War, came to an end on March 18th, 1931, when MP A.W. Neil introduced a motion to have Armistice Day observed on November 11th and “on no other date.”

Another MP, C.W. Dickie, moved to change the name from Armistice Day to Remembrance Day. This renaming placed the emphasis more upon the soldiers whose deaths were being remembered. Parliament adopted these resolutions as an amendment to the Armistice Day Act, and Canada held its first Remembrance Day by that name on November 11th 1931. The Holidays Act of 1970 and 1985 recognized it as a national holiday.

In France and Belgium, November 11th is still observed as Armistice Day, while in Britain Remembrance Sunday is the second Sunday in November. In the United States, war veterans are also honoured on November 11th, known as Veterans Day.

Other Wars In Canada, Remembrance Day has proven to be a flexible and enduring term. It has grown to include the remembrance of War dead from the Second World War, the Korean War and the War in Afghanistan, as well as from peacekeeping missions and other international military engagements.

In all, more than 1.6 million Canadians have served in Canada’s Armed Forces and more than 118,000 have died in foreign conflicts.

Remembrance Day Poppy The symbol of Remembrance Day is the red poppy, which grows on the First World War battlefields of Flanders, in Belgium and northern France. As the artillery barrages began to churn the earth in late 1914, the fields of Flanders and northern France saw scores of red poppies appear.

In 2021, Canada Post issued a stamp celebrating the 100th anniversary of the poppy’s adoption as a national symbol of remembrance.

Some organizations in Canada, including Canadian Voice of Women for Peace (VOW Peace) and the Vancouver-based Peace Poppies, support the wearing of white poppies instead of, or in addition to, the traditional red version. The white poppy represents a commitment to peace and commemorates all victims of War, civilian as well as military. However, white poppies aren’t popular in Canada, as many feel they are disrespectful to veterans.

Other Symbols On Remembrance Day, public ceremonies and church services often include the playing of “Last Post” followed by “Reveille,” a reading of the fourth stanza of the poem “For the Fallen,” and two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. Wreaths are laid at local war memorials and assemblies are held in schools.

The Books of Remembrance, which lie in the Memorial Chamber of the Peace Tower on Parliament Hill in Ottawa are another record of the wars. The eight books contain the names of more than 118,000 Canadians who have died on military service, or in the Merchant Marine. The various books cover foreign conflicts dating from the War of 1812, the South African War and Nile Expedition, through the world wars and Korea, to the conflicts of the 21st century. A separateNewfoundland Book of Remembranceincludes the names of Newfoundlanders who died in the First and Second World Wars, when Newfoundland and Labrador was not yet part of Canada.

Monuments commemorating the lives of Canadians who died in conflicts overseas occupy a prominent place in towns and cities throughout Canada. Most were erected in the 1920s and 1930s following the First World War (the names of subsequent wars were later added to many of these memorials). They represent a commitment, by communities large and small, not to forget Canadian lives lost in War.

Every year, the Royal Canadian Legion chooses the mother of an Armed Forces member killed in military service to represent the mothers of Canadian veterans. She is named the National Memorial Silver Cross Mother, and is invited to attend the national Remembrance Day ceremony in Ottawa.

National War Memorial Canada’s most prominent domestic war monument is the National War Memorial in Ottawa, which is the focus, on November 11th, of a nationally televised Remembrance Day ceremony, traditionally attended by the Governor General, the Prime Minister, senior Legion officials and a large parade of veterans.

The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is located at the foot of the National War Memorial. It contains the remains of an unidentified Canadian soldier killed in the First World War. His remains were exhumed from a cemetery near Vimy Ridge and repatriated in 2000. The tomb represents all Canadians killed overseas who lie in unmarked graves.

Remembrance Day is a federal statutory holiday, a paid day off work for federal employees. It is also a statutory holiday in some but not all the provinces and territories.

The Canadian Encyclopedia

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