Harsh reviews for Vimy Centennial

Hundreds of Canadians who made the journey to France for the Vimy centennial described poor planning by Veterans Canada

OT TAWA • “A total disaster.” “Appalling.” “A mosh pit and Woodstock combined.”

These were among the withering reviews received by Veterans Canada this year to its hosting of 25,000 Canadians in France for the centennial of the Battle of Vimy Ridge, one of the most famed military battles in this country’s history.

It was a solemn occasion on April 9, the culmination of years of planning to make the event go smoothly. The ceremony was in the style of a Remembrance Day event, but bigger, with speeches, thousands of empty boots to symbolize the men killed, some interpretive dancing and a live TV broadcast in Canada.

Concerts and sports events handle similar crowds all the time. They bus people in, open lots of gates, supply portable toilets and water, give clear directions and let everyone go home when the event is over.

However, documents obtained through an access-toinformation request showed how visitors who travelled from Canada were stranded, injured and sweltering in the sun with no water.

They were forced to urinate on the grass for lack of toilets and finally penned in enclosures for two hours or more after dignitaries — including Princes Charles, Harry and William and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau — drove away past them.

Seniors were pushed and shoved against metal gates by overcrowding. Some students gave up waiting and walked across the battlefield still containing some unexploded shells. Families were separated as darkness fell.

Many later wrote to Veterans Affairs Canada. While those in front of the monument agreed it had been a moving ceremony, thousands at the back could not see or hear and the logistics of handling 25,000 people broke down badly.

The visitors’ letters — 397 pages of them — tell of heat exhaustion, thirst, full bladders and fear. Below are some excerpts, with the senders’ names removed by Veterans Affairs.