To commemorate the 100-year anniversary of the Remembrance Day poppy, Carleton University held its Nov. 11 ceremony virtually again this year.
This is the second year Carleton held the ceremony online due to COVID-19.
A video commemorating the holiday was posted to the Carleton website with comments from president Benoit-Antoine Bacon and Carleton University Student’s Association (CUSA) vice president (community engagement) Callie Ogden. The presentation featured a performance of the Last Post by brass teacher Kelly Craig, Lament on the bagpipes by Carleton music instructor Jack Coghill and a virtual moment of silence.
The Canadian flag on Library Road was also lowered to half-mast.
Carleton University was founded in 1942 to support Second World War veterans, Bacon said at the end of the video. Bacon added the university continues to express support for Canadian soldiers at home and abroad.
“[Soldiers] are the ultimate example of resilience and purpose, and of fighting for the greater good,” Bacon said in the video. “The tradition of serving those who need us in our community, of course, has continued to be a defining characteristic of Carleton for nearly 80 years.”
Ogden also said in the video that CUSA recognized those who risked their lives for Canada on behalf of all undergraduate students at Carleton.
“Today, we show our respect and gratitude to the serving members and veterans of our Canadian Armed Forces, who have made an incredible sacrifice for our country,” Ogden said.
While few students wore poppies on campus today, second-year industrial design student Nicco Timpano said he was commemorating the day by staying home and holding a moment of silence.
“I’m not someone who would go down to the memorials or anything, but I always keep it in mind and I’ll say a prayer,” Timpano said. “[Wearing a poppy] is heritage. Something to be proud of.”
The momentous anniversary was commemorated nationally. Emmanuelle Latraverse is a Carleton master of journalism alumni who reported on the war in Afghanistan as a foreign correspondent for Ici Réseau de l’information. She is now a reporter with Téléviseurs Associés Nouvelles in Gatineau and hosted its moment of silence.
Latraverse said she wore a poppy on Remembrance Day to show respect for those who put their lives on the line for Canada.
“[Wearing a poppy] is a way to show that their sacrifice and what they’ve done and the role they’ve played in society is not forgotten,” Latraverse said.
Latraverse said she dedicated her moment of silence to this year’s National Silver Cross Mother Josée Simard, whose daughter Karine was killed in Kandahar, Afghanistan in 2009.
“[Simard] said she thought her daughter’s sacrifice was not meaningless, because she helped open and secure some schools,” Latraverse said. “The idea is not to romanticize [war], but to help us remember that some soldiers really put it all on the line to build a better world, and there’s something heartening about that.”
Featured image by Isaac Phan Nay.
