The University Students’ Council will be hosting a Remembrance Day ceremony for members of the Western community on Tuesday. The ceremony will feature student musical performances, poems and other tributes dedicated to Canadian veterans and armed forces still serving. The ceremony begins at 10:15 a.m. in the Mustang Lounge in the University Community Centre.
King’s University College will observe the day by gathering at the flagpoles in front of the college at 10:45 a.m.
Huron University College will celebrate Holy Eucharist using the Walter Brown Communion Kit at 8:40 a.m. in Huron Chapel. Fr. Walter Brown is the only Allied Chaplain to have been executed by the Nazis in the Second World War. The Huron community will also gather at 10:50 a.m. in the Chapel for the act of Remembrance and laying of the wreath. Current members of the Canadian Forces are encouraged to wear their uniform and decorations. Veterans are encouraged to wear their medals.
If you are unable to attend either ceremony, you are encouraged to observe two minutes of silence at 11 a.m. in your work area. Where this is not possible, the two minutes can be observed between 11 a.m. and noon.
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The time is right for a new tradition on campus. Starting Tuesday, Western will lower the flag on University College from sun-up to sun-down each Remembrance Day.
Western traditionally lowers its flag to mourn the loss of members of Western’s community, and also to mark significant occasions of national loss and remembrance.
“One of those occasions is of course Remembrance Day,” said Gitta Kulczycki, vice-president
(resources and operations). “Nov. 11, 2014 is particularly noteworthy as 2014 marks 100 since the start of the First World War. Many Canadians made the ultimate sacrifice in that war and in other conflicts that have followed in defense of freedom and our country.
“In honour and recognition of all those who serve, and as an act of remembrance for those we’ve lost, Western’s official flag will be lowered.”
Observed in Commonwealth countries, Remembrance Day (also known as Poppy Day or Armistice Day) was established at the end of the First World War to remember members of the armed forces who have died in the line of duty. In Canada, the Armistice Day Act provided that Thanksgiving would be observed on Armistice Day, which was fixed by statute on the Monday of the week in which Nov. 11 fell, from 1921-30. In 1931, the act was amended to establish Nov. 11 as Remembrance Day.