Join us virtually to remember our heroes
Each year, the University community remembers the alumni, students, faculty and staff who fell in the First and Second World Wars and other action at the annual Service of Remembrance.
Due to public health guidelines around COVID-19 and public gatherings, this year the ceremony will be hosted virtually. We invite members of the University community to join us in paying our respects by watching the service online.
Ceremony schedule:
- Opening Remarks by Wisdom Tettey, Vice-President and Principal
- The Last Post
- Moment of Silence
- Reveille
- In Flanders Fields poem
- Act of Remembrance by Wisdom Tettey, Vice-President and Principal
- Closing Remarks by Wisdom Tettey, Vice-President and Principal
- National Anthem
For more information, please contact the Office of Ceremonies & Events at ceremonies.utsc@utoronto.ca.
Messages in Honour of Remembrance Day
In 1914 war broke out when my grandfather was an undergraduate at McGill University. He survived four years of trench warfare enduring deprivations most of us cannot imagine. He earned the Military Cross with the following dispatch:
“During an action he … materially assisted in the getting forward of ammunition and engineer supplies. He continued through the night under heavy bombing and machine-gun fire by enemy aeroplanes to direct the traffic. By his coolness and presence of mind he held the drivers to their work, kept the traffic moving, and so prevented a large loss of life ….”
He was the age of an undergraduate when he did this. I salute our undergraduates who are expressing the same wonderful resiliency during the current pandemic.
- Bill Gough, Vice-Principal Academic & Dean
Every November 11th, we honour and remember the courage and sacrifice of our fellow Canadians who fought to protect democracy, safety and freedom. These ordinary Canadians made extraordinary sacrifices as they risked and often lost their lives. None returned unaffected by their experiences.
This Remembrance Day, though we may not be gathered in silence, and may not even be wearing poppies, it’s important that we turn our thoughts to our fellow citizens past and present that have defended Canada and worked toward the cessation of conflict across the world. By acknowledging their commitment to the precious and precarious peace we now enjoy and that they fought so hard to achieve, we honour them.
In these moments of silence at 11 AM, we reflect on those who serve and continue to serve our country during times of war, conflict and hopefully peace.
Lest We Forget.
In Solidarity,
- Colin Harris, USW member