Canadians mark WWI battle in France on 100th anniversary
PARIS — More than 20,000 people, most of them Canadians, attended a ceremony Sunday to commemorate a World War I battle in northern France that remains indelibly etched on Canada’s national identity 100 years after it happened.
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and members of the British royal family were among the dignitaries who gathered at Vimy Ridge for the centenary of the day that outnumbered Canadian troops succeeded in taking the strategic position from the Germans.
“They were, most of them, young men in their late teens, in their early 20s,” Trudeau said at the ceremony. “Going as far as sacrificing their lives, these men both ordinary and extraordinary of the British dominion fought for the first time as citizens of a single and same country side by side here in Vimy.”
Canada lost 3,600 soldiers and had over 7,000 injured during the threeday battle. Largely because of its achievement in France, the North American country was a separate signatory to the treaty that ended World War I.
“In this sense, Canada was born there,” Trudeau said.
The battle has become an important part of Canada’s identity, symbolizing the shift from a former British colony to an independent nation. The site, which in 1922 became a piece of Canadian territory on French soil, is a revered national symbol, one featured on the back of Canada’s $20 bill to this day.
On Monday, Trudeau will visit World War II sites in the Normandy region. He will go to Juno Beach and then visit the Canadian War Cemetery in Beny-surMer.