Schools honour veterans with Remembrance Day ceremony

As November 11th is soon approaching, schools across Montreal came together for a special ceremony in honour of Remembrance Day.

This year’s event featured seven schools participating in the ceremony, along with veterans and members of Canadian Grenadier Guards.

“So many of the people attending today were young adults or young teenagers. I believe in a world where we want to pass on values, it’s important to remember those who fought for, not just Canadian values, but universal values,” said Anastasia Burtovyy, vice-president of the student union at John Abbott.

“For us to build a better world, it’s important to value those who helped us paved this world but also hold on to these values for future generations.”

Participating schools included McGill University’s Macdonald campus, John Abbott College, Macdonald High School as well as Edgewater, Dorset, St-Patrick’s, and Pierre Elliot Trudeau elementary schools.

“We started this back in 2006 with a group where we fundraised for the monument, and we decided to have a small ceremony and it is growing into this now,” explained Bob McEwen, co-chair of the Remembrance Day committee.

“It shows the kids that this is a very important situation, a very important day, a very important time of life especially with what’s going on around the world.”

Hundreds of students and staff came out for the hour-long ceremony amid the snow and freezing rain to honour current and fallen soldiers.

“I did go to John Abbott College and it’s amazing to see that we had a, it looked like 1,500 students in attendance today from five elementary John Abbott, McGill MacDonnell campus as well and MacDonnell High School. It’s very emotional especially when we see the oak trees around because the oak trees were planted in remembrance of the MacDonnell students who died in World War I,” said Lieutenant Nikolas Dolmat.