Royal City residents will get a double dose of Remembrance Day celebrations on Nov. 11.
The City of New Westminster’s Remembrance Day ceremony normally begins at the Armoury of the Royal Westminster Regiment, with overflow seating provided across the street at Queens Avenue United Church. Following the speeches and formalities, attendees paraded down to the cenotaph in front of city hall to lay wreaths and take part in two minutes of silence.
“We were ending up with three different sites for the ceremony,” said Coun. Lorrie Williams, chair of the city’s Remembrance Day committee. “Because of this, the police have cautioned us or advised us that it is not possible for them to sweep and secure all three sites.”
It was estimated about 3,000 people attended last year’s Remembrance Day ceremony in New West, which came just weeks after two Canadian soldiers were killed in separate attacks in Quebec and Ottawa. That resulted in higher security at the local ceremony, including police on rooftops.
This year, the city’s ceremony gets underway at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 11 at the cenotaph in front of city hall. It will include short speeches, the reading of a poem and the singing of O Canadaby a children’s choir.
“Somebody said to me, ‘What if it rains?’ I thought, well, I guess in the trenches they had rain there as well,” Williams said. “We have experienced rain at the ceremony before and somehow we have managed to have wonderful celebrations there.”
Mayor Jonathan Cote said all community members are invited to attend the Remembrance Day ceremony.
“Even though we’ve been many, many years since the last major conflict, it actually touches my heart that the ceremonies we have in our community and the communities across Canada seem to be growing,” he said. “I think that really speaks to the importance of remembering and what Remembrance Day is all about.”
The Royal Westminster Regiment is continuing its longstanding tradition of having a Remembrance Day ceremony at the Armoury starting at 10 a.m.
Adjutant Capt. Richard Desaulniers with the Royal Westminster Regiment said the regiment is part of the city’s Remembrance Day committee and has been coordinating its memorial service with city hall.
“What has happened in years past is the city has funded the events in the Armoury. However, just due to security concerns and a multitude of other issues, they weren’t able to do this portion,” he said.
“We coordinated with them. We are still going to do our own portion from 10 to 10:30 a.m. and the city is going to start after, so they are not taking away from ours and we aren’t taking away from theirs. About 10:55 is when we should join together and do the remainder of the ceremony together at the cenotaph. So, it’s a bit separated, but also together.”
The Royal Westminster Regiment’s ceremony features a memorial address by Lieut.-Col. D.J. Vernon, the regiment’s commanding officer, whose military career has included two tours in Afghanistan and multiple overseas deployments. It also includes an invocation by the regimental padre, readings of a poem and war letters by veterans and the singing of O Canada and God Save the Queen.
The Armoury doors will open at 9 a.m. and the Royal Westminster Regiment Band will perform a selection of military music and pieces from the two world wars.
A historical slide show will take place before the memorial service.
All community members are welcome to attend the service taking place at 530 Queens Ave. and are advised to arrive early as seating is limited and provided on a first-come basis.
Asked about the safety concerns cited by the city for changing up this year’s memorial service, Desaulniers said the city’s concern is valid for using their own resources properly as it relates to security in the area.
“You want to sweep, control access to the site and control routes into and out of the site,” he said. “Putting the regiment in the envelope increases that quite a bit. It doesn’t seem like much, but then you consider different points of access and other avenues and it becomes a much larger manpower issue.”
