Remembrance Day 2016

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Published on Friday, November 4, 2016

Photos courtesy of Press Archives. Left: Aug. 4, 1914 Neepawa Press. Right: Nov. 15, 1918 Neepawa Press.

Key Canadian Events in World War I

August  4, 1914: Canada at War

When Britain went to war on August 4, all colonies and dominions of the British Empire, like Canada and Newfoundland, were automatically at war.

August 22, 1914: War Measures Act

Canada passed the War Measures Act in order to provide the government with new and intrusive powers to prosecute the war. These powers included censorship, the right to detain and arrest Canadians and the right to take control over any property.

April 22,1915: Battle of Second Ypres

In Canada’s first major battle, the outnumbered Canadian Division faced the first use of chlorine gas as a battlefield agent. A third of the force, or 6,000 soldiers, were killed, wounded, or captured, but the Canadians kept the Germans from breaking through.

July 1, 1916: Beaumont Hamel

The Newfoundland Regiment went into battle at Beaumont Hamel as part of a general British offensive on July 1, 1916. Due to error and miscalculation, the Regiment attacked through uncut barbed wire against heavy machine-gun fire. Within 30 minutes, 324 of its 801 soldiers were dead or missing and another 386 were wounded.

April 9 to 12, 1917: Battle of Vimy Ridge

Canadians successfully attacked the German-held strongpoint of Vimy Ridge. The thoroughly planned and executed victory has become a post-war symbol for Canadian identity and independence.

September 20, 1917:  Wartime Elections Act

In preparation for an election, mainly on the issue of conscription (mandatory military service), the government changed the election rules. Some Canadian women were able to vote for the first time, while other Canadians lost their right to vote in sweeping changes to enfranchisement.

October 26 to November 10, 1917: 

Battle of Passchendaele

This battle is remembered for its brutal fighting and horrible weather conditions. Canadian forces, serving under a Canadian commander, captured their objective, but suffered 16,000 killed or wounded.

December 17, 1917:  Federal Election

The 1917 debate on conscription, mandatory military service for men, was one of the fiercest and most divisive in Canadian political history. French-Canadians, as well as many farmers, unionized workers, non-British immigrants and other Canadians, generally opposed the measure. English-speaking Canadians, as well as British immigrants, the families of soldiers and older Canadians generally supported it. The pro-conscription side won the election. Conscription polarized provinces, ethnic and linguistic groups, communities, and families and had lasting political effects on the country as a whole.

November 8 to 11, 1918:  The Hundred Days

Canadians played a key role in the series of battles that formed the Hundred Days campaign. With the infantry and artillery working in a combined arms system, along with tactical airpower, machine-guns, mortars, chemical weapons, and armoured vehicles, the German armies were driven back and defeated.

November 11, 1918:  Armistice

The war ended at 11 a.m. on this day. More than nine million service personnel and an estimated 20 million civilians were killed in the war.

Why we remember on Nov. 11

Remembrance Day occurs in Canada each November 11. 

It is a day of national commemoration for the more than 100,000 Canadians who have died in military service. The costs for Canada, with its relatively small population, have been substantial. 

The poppy, a symbol of remembrance

The adoption of the poppy as a symbol of remembrance has international origins. The first person to use it this way was Moina Michael, a member of the staff of the American Overseas YMCA in the last year of the war. Michael read McCrae's poem and was so moved that she composed one of her own in response. She recalled later: "In a high moment of white resolve, I pledged to keep the faith and always to wear a red poppy of Flanders Fields as a sign of remembrance and the emblem of 'keeping the faith with all who died.'"

Consequently, she led a successful campaign to have the American Legion recognize the poppy as the official symbol of remembrance in April 1920. At the same time, Madame Anne Guerin, of France, inspired both by McCrae's poem and by Moina Michael's example, also became a vigorous advocate of the poppy as the symbol of remembrance for war dead. Her own organization, the American and French Children's League, sold cloth copies of the flower to help raise money to re-establish war-devastated areas in Europe.

In 1921, Guerin travelled to Britain and Canada on behalf of the poppy and convinced both the recently formed British Legion and the Canadian Great War Veterans Association (a predecessor of the Canadian Legion) to adopt the poppy as their symbol of remembrance as well. The first 'Poppy Day' in both countries occurred on Nov. 11, 1921. The Returned Soldiers League in Australia adopted the poppy as its symbol of remembrance the same year.

For the first year, these artificial poppies were bought from Guerin's organization in France. By 1922, however, the various countries had started manufacturing them at home. In Canada, they were made by Vetcraft shops, run by the Department of Soldiers Civil Re-establishment and staffed by disabled soldiers. After its formation in 1925, the Canadian Legion (known as the Royal Canadian Legion since 1959) has run the poppy campaign in Canada.

An early edition of the Legion's magazine, The Legionary, explained the significance of buying poppies made by Vetcraft, as opposed to commercially available copies, as follows: "The disabled veterans in Vetcraft and Red Cross workshops are creating true memorials, while a poppy replica produced under ordinary commercial competitive conditions is nothing more nor less than an artificial flower."

The artificial poppy continues to flourish as the symbol of remembrance in the week leading up to the official commemorations on Nov. 11. Today, millions of Canadians wear the bright red emblem to remember and honour the many thousands of their fellow Canadians who have died in war.

– Canadian War Museum