Remembrance Day ceremonies in the northeast will be held virtually this year. (File photo/northeastNOW staff)

By Angie Rolheiser

Remembrance Day 2020

Remembrance Day ceremonies will go ahead virtually amid pandemic

Nov 10, 2020 | 9:00 AM

Royal Canadian Legion’s in the northeast will have virtual Remembrance Day ceremonies this year.

President of the Melfort Legion Branch No. 30 Jim Graham told northeastNOW it is important to take the time to honour and remember.

He said the effects ripple down much farther than we think.

“There are big costs to what our nation asked their people to do,” Graham said. “There are bills that have to be paid afterwards and a lot of people pay those bills for a long time.”

The COVID-19 pandemic has led to the cancellation of the ceremony that typically sees hundreds in attendance in the auditorium of Melfort and Unit Comprehensive Collegiate.

weather update

Hot weather forecasted over the next several days

Jul 30, 2025

Economic collaboration

Humboldt exploring joint economic collaboration with George Gordon First Nation

Jul 30, 2025

Remembering a legend

Canadian wrestling promoter mourns death of Hulk Hogan

Jul 30, 2025

Graham said there will still be many of the same aspects during the service that will be held at the Legion but will not be open to the public. Instead, the service will be broadcast live on Facebook.

“We usually show a video of slides of area people who lost their lives during the First World War, Second World War, and Korean war,” Graham said. “We will of course be listing off those who made the ultimate sacrifice as well as those who generously provided wreaths.”

The Legion still offered the opportunity for the community to purchase a wreath that will be placed around the miniature cenotaph that will be in the Legion during the ceremony, rather than community members laying the wreath for themselves.

The community band won’t be able to play but their will be a local piper in attendance who is also a legion member.

The Remembrance Day ceremony will be broadcasted live on the Melfort Legion Facebook page starting at 10:30 a.m. on Wednesday. Melfort Legion and Melfort Royal Canadian Legion are the two pages that will stream the service.

Legion members also had to refrain from going into the schools to speak with students about the importance of Remembrance Day in the days leading up to Nov. 11.

“Providing the opportunity for our youth to have a better understanding of what their parents and grandparents went through in life is very important to us,” Graham said.

All school divisions have not been allowing visitors and that includes the members of the legion who would normally come in for a day to speak and run contests with the students.

“The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month is really a time where we should reflect on those that came before us,” Graham said.

Reflection should be on the families who were affected by having a son or brother who went off to war as well as those who went to serve in war.

“Think about them and also those who came back and were scarred from the experiences they went through,” Graham said. “Think of them on the November 11, and throughout the year as well.”

The Humboldt Legion will hold an outdoor service at the Cenotaph on the old courthouse grounds at 11 a.m. The service will be open to the public up to a maximum of 150 people and will also be lived streamed courtesy of Schuler Lefebvre Funeral Home.

In Nipawin, there will be an outdoor ceremony as well at 10:50 a.m. that is not open to the public. Following the outdoor service, Legion members will retire indoors for the laying of the wreaths and that will be live streamed on Facebook at Nipawin Legion No. 120.

All of the local legions would like to remind the public to take time to reflect the freedoms enjoyed here in Canada since the First World War..

–

angie.rolheiser@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @Angie_Rolheiser