Like many small towns across the country, Niagara-on-the-Lake does an exceptional job at paying tribute to those who have served our nation in the armed forces and defended the freedoms we so readily take for granted.
And in NOTL, each Remembrance Day we take time not once, but twice, with solemn ceremonies at the clock tower cenotaph on Queen Street and at the Queenston cenotaph.
Both events attract a large contingent of ordinary citizens — mainly, but not exclusively, seniors, many of whom had relatives who fought during the two world wars.
In NOTL, Nov. 11 is a lot more than two minutes of silence, political platitudes and the laying of wreaths.
Besides the formal ceremonies, NOTL also does an exemplary job of acknowledging its veterans — including through gatherings at the Legion, visits to seniors in care homes and the unique Poppy Project.
This year, the Poppy Brigade volunteers from the NOTL Museum again adorned the Queen Street courthouse, the Legion and the museum with handmade poppies in a spectacular display.
And as we showed readers last week, they created a poppy garden on the museum grounds, complete with placards containing the names of NOTL soldiers who gave their lives in war.
The museum volunteers have created thousands of poppies for the project.
And they also expanded the project again, bringing their decorations this year to the RiverBrink Art Museum, which is located beside the cenotaph in Queenston.
With luck, perhaps this awesome grassroots project will expand again next year, possibly including a poppy installation on the new gateway wall at Queen Street and Niagara Stone Road.
For people of a certain age, whether they themselves served or grew up knowing some of those who did, wearing a poppy, reflecting on the tragedy of war and turning out to publicly acknowledge those sacrifices is an annual rite.
They join the Mounties, legionnaires, police, firefighters, cadets and others who formally gather for the ceremony.
With the ranks of those who participated in the Second World War diminished, it was heartwarming to have so many young people front and centre at this year’s Remembrance Day ceremony.
Kudos to those students and teachers from NOTL schools who took the time to pay their respects and act as a bridge from generations past.
And, as The Lake Report’s Richard Wright documented, thanks also to the Legion for choosing 13-year-old Royal Oak student Mariia Yevtushemko to recite the poem “In Flanders Fields.”
She moved to Canada from Ukraine with her family two years ago to flee the war there and was a fitting choice to voice John McRae’s classic poem.
Modern-day wars in Ukraine and elsewhere serve to remind us that conflicts are still raging, and men, women and children are still dying, in wars in many parts of the world.
Among the many young people attending the Queen Street ceremony, our reporter also found 12-year-old Sienna deSouza.
Like her classmates from St. Michael Catholic School in Virgil, she was on hand to observe and pay her respects.
Perhaps she best summed up Remembrance Day in NOTL and why we need to maintain a strong connection among multiple generations.
“It’s so important to keep the memory alive,” she said.
We wholeheartedly agree.
