Pandemic restricts Remembrance Day events
Legion asked members not to attend ceremonies
OTTAWA — A modest crowd gathered in downtown Ottawa to witness a solemn Remembrance Day ceremony at the National War Memorial, instead of the tens of thousands who normally show up.
Many of the wreaths were already positioned around the cenotaph, one way to keep the number of people down as the country grapples with the deadly second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic.
“On this day when so much has changed since the last time we gathered, may we be comforted by the words from Her Majesty the Queen to Canadians in the context of this pandemic,” Maj.- Gen. Guy Chapdelaine, a Roman Catholic priest who is chaplain general of the Canadian Armed Forces, said Wednesday morning.
“Hope is to be found in the care given to the vulnerable and to those in need,” he said, repeating the message twice.
Canadians were encouraged to stay home while they mark the service and sacrifice of those who have given their lives to defend the country, as the solemnity of Remembrance Day is butting up against the threat posed by the second wave of COVID-19.
The Royal Canadian Legion explicitly discouraged Canadians from attending Remembrance Day ceremonies in person this year and instead asked people to watch on TV or online.
Chris Turenne was part of the small crowd that still showed up to watch the ceremony from behind the barriers in downtown Ottawa, under a gloomy sky. He said people should be responsible and respect COVID-19 rules, but the ceremony should have happened as normal.
“There’s been other protests and rallies, and they seemed to be fine,” he said.
As promised by the legion, there were many of the traditional elements of the ceremonies, such as the playing of the “Last Post,” and the reciting of “In Flanders Fields.” A planned flyby of military aircraft over downtown Ottawa was cancelled due to the weather.
There was also emphasis on the 75th anniversary of the end of the Second World War, after many commemorations planned for earlier this year in Europe and elsewhere were cancelled.