Tour firm to bring eternal flame back to Canada

Company plans to allow people to light copies

Families whose relatives fought in the First World War will soon have the chance to carry an everlasting memory of them, thanks to a new Edmonton-based tour company.

The company, Canadian Educational Tour Planning 2 (CETP2), is kicking off its tours with one this November commemorating the 100th anniversary of the end of the First World War.

On it, travellers will visit the burial site of the first and last soldiers to have died in the war to collect a copy of the eternal flame that burns in Belgium and return it to Canada.

“There are so many soldiers, nurses, men and women who did not get to come home,” said Terry Plant who co-owns the company with her husband. “I think maybe some of these families have never really had honest, true closure. So we want to bring that full circle now.”

The tour plans to visit sites where Canadian soldiers trained, fought, and are buried in England, Belgium and France. People on the tour will also be able to walk in the actual trenches, go down the actual roads, and hear stories from 100 years ago, Plant said.

She said they want to deliver the flame home for the families whose loved one’s bodies were either never found or never returned home to Canada at the end of the war.

The flame will be transported in a Davy lamp, or protector, that allows it to continue to burn on the flight.

Once back in Edmonton, Plant’s plan is to find a permanent home for the flame where individuals can come and collect their own copies.

Plant works in the Cadet Instructor Cadre and her husband, a military history buff, has a background working for tour companies.

They were first inspired to start the company when they took a group of cadets to tour war sites in 2014 and saw the impact it had on them.

“They’re not really taught it in school very much anymore, and there are no more soldiers left from the First World War, and many from the Second World War are aging and dying,” Plant said.

“It is important to remember what happened so we don’t repeat it. It’s important for the youth to remember so they don’t have to go through it, hopefully,” she said.

The goal is to educate people on Canadian history and create an emotional connection between the events and people of the past with those of today, Plant said.

“You can read about it all you want in books, but to walk in those places and see what was there … when you’re there you can actually feel it,” she said.

There are so many soldiers, nurses, men and women who did not get to come home ... some of these families have never really had honest, true closure.