Remembrance Day Ceremonies Metro Vancouver

Canadians might hold the ceremony and peaceful reflection of Remembrance Day even closer to their hearts this year given the recent tragedies suffered back east. Here in Metro Vancouver, Remembrance Day ceremonies and services at local cenotaphs will be complimented with special events throughout the coming days:

Remembrance Day Around Metro Vancouver

Photo credit: Philip Tong on Flickr

Saturday, November 8th

A Great Service: 23rd Annual Remembrance Day Concerts
New Westminster
7:00pm to 9:30pm at Queens Avenue United Church (529 Queens at 6th)
The 23rd annual Remembrance Day concerts. With special guest reader Christopher Gaze, O.B.C. Amidst the chaos and brutality of war, soldiers also consoled and cared for each other. Robert Service witnessed these unsung acts of compassion as a WWI volunteer ambulance driver. A Great Service places his harrowing stories alongside musical selections by Gustav Holst, Vaughan Williams, Paul Mealor, and Rupert Lang in this beloved Chor Leoni Remembrance Day tradition. This concert is supported by a major gift from Rob McAllister and James Emery, in loving memory of Shirley McAllister.

National Aboriginal Veterans Day
Vancouver
10:15am at Victory Square, West Hastings at Cambie
Aboriginal Veterans will hold a ceremony at the Victory Square Cenotaph on November 8th, National Aboriginal Veterans Day. A march will start at Carnegie Centre at 10:15am and proceed to Victory Square. The official ceremony begins at 10:45am.

Sunday, November 9th

Remembering Day Service, Remembering Peace
Vancouver
10:30am to 12:00pm at Canadian Memorial United Church (1806 West 15th)
Honouring Remembrance Day and this church’s legacy as a memorial to peace. Rev Beth Hayward reflects on how we come together in communities of hope and collaboration to communicate and bring alive peace in this time. Further than just an absence of war, peace is an active and deliberate call to bring about change within our relationships, within ourselves, and within all creation. In this complex world today, with fear and factions growing, more than ever we are called to bring peace into all our dealings in ways that contribute to bringing about equality and justice for peace on earth. Featuring music from Vancouver’s celebrated Universal Gospel Choir. Free and open to all.

Books of Remembrance – Open House
Vancouver
1:00pm to 3:30pm at Canadian Memorial United Church (1806 West 15th)
A Reflection on War and Peace Join us for music, memories, and reflection in our unique chapel built for peace in honour of those who gave their lives in war. View the only copies of the Books of Remembrance outside of Ottawa and perhaps find family members who gave their lives in hope of peace. Reflect with wonderful instrumentalists as musical accompaniment in this sanctuary for peace. All welcome, all free, refreshments served.

Remembering with Gratitude
Vancouver
10:30am to 12:00pm at Rosedale on Robson Suite Hotel (838 Hamilton St)
Urban Community Baptist Church would like to extend an invitation to all who have served or are currently serving in the Canadian Forces with their family and friends to join us for a special service being held in their honour on Sunday November 9, 2014 at 11:00 am. A free continental breakfast will be served at 10:30am and all veterans and military personnel will be given a gift.

Tuesday, November 11th

North Delta Social Heart Plaza Remembrance Day Ceremony
Delta
10:30am to 11:30am at North Delta Social Heart Plaza (11415 84 Ave)

Mission Remembrance Day Service
Mission
10:30am to 11:30am at Clarke Theatre(32627 Prentis Ave)

Remembrance Day
Pitt Meadows
10:30am to 11:45am at City Square (Harris Rd)

Generation to Generation Ceremony and Lighting of the Cauldron
Vancouver
8:30am at Jack Poole Plaza, Vancouver Convention Centre
As the cauldron lights, a senior veteran will hand over Canada’s flag to a member of the next generation of veterans, acknowledging the continuing service and loyalty of Canadians from generation to generation. Regimental units taking part in this year’s ceremony include serving members of the 39 Canadian Brigade and HMCS Discovery. RCMP officers will stand as sentries while the all-Cadet Vancouver Flag Party marches in. The Last Post will sound followed by Rouse and the Lament. The cauldron will be extinguished at 11:00am, coinciding with Two Minutes of Silence at Victory Square.

Ceremony and parade at Victory Square
Vancouver
10:00am at Victory Square, West Hastings St at Cambie
The program begins with a performance by the Vancouver Bach Youth Choir and Sarabande starting at 9:45am. Led by the Vancouver Flag Party, the parade of veterans, military marching units, and bands will arrive at Victory Square before the ceremony begins at 10:30am. At 11:00am the Last Post will be sounded. There will be Two Minutes of Silence, during which a 21-gun salute by the 15th Field Artillery Regiment will be heard from Portside Park. Rouse and Lament will follow. The RCAF will conduct a fly-past moments later, weather permitting. The enduring In Flanders Fields will then be sung by the Bach Youth Choir and Sarabande and wreaths will be placed at the Cenotaph. A feature will be a combined performance by the Vancouver Fire and Rescue Service and the Regimental Pipes and Drums of the Seaforth Highlanders of Canada. The main parade will march west along Hastings past the reviewing stand between Homer and Richards, turning right at Richards, east on Cordova, then south on Cambie. The veterans section of the parade will march west along Hastings Street past the reviewing stand and disperse.

Remembrance Day XC Race 2014
Vancouver

Remembrance Day Parade and Service
North Vancouver
10:30am to 12:00pm at Victoria Park Cenotaph

Remembrance Day Parade and Service
North Vancouver
11:00am at Cates Park
Cates Park Service 11am

Remembrance Day Parade and Service
West Vancouver
10:30am on Marine Drive at 20th

UBC Remembers
10:45am at the War Memorial Gym

A Great Service – Chor Leoni’s 22nd Annual Remembrance Day Concerts
West Vancouver
1:00pm to 3:00pm at West Vancouver United Church (2062 Esquimalt Ave)

A Musical Revue – Songs of WWI & WWII
Mission
2:00pm to 4:00pm at All Saints Anglican Church Hall (33077 2nd Ave)

A Great Service – Chor Leoni’s 22nd Annual Remembrance Day Concerts
Vancouver
7:30pm to 9:30pm at St. Andrew’s-Wesley United Church (1022 Nelson St at Burrard)

Additional ceremonies and services can be found on your city’s website in the next few days and I will update this list as they are posted.