Every year on Remembrance Day, we honour the sacrifice of the members of our armed forces who stood strong in the past and those who stand strong today.
The day was originally called "Armistice Day" to commemorate the end of hostilities during World War I on November 11th, 1918. It was inaugurated in 1919 throughout most of the British empire and took place on the second Monday of November. In 1921, Canadian parliament passed an Armistice Day bill to observe it on the Monday of the week of November 11th. This coincided with the Thanksgiving holiday and thus, Armistice Day was observed with very few public demonstrations.
In 1928, there was a push by a group of prominent Canadians, which included some war veterans, to separate the two days and get more recognition for Armistice Day. In 1931, a bill was passed in the house of commons to change the name of Armistice Day to Remembrance Day and to declare it to be observed on November 11th only. The Thanksgiving holiday was moved to October.
A little over 600,000 Canadians enlisted with the Canadian Expeditionary Force during World War I and another 1,100,000 Canadians were involved in World War II efforts. Since then, Canadian troops have served in armed conflicts around the world as well as several peacekeeping missions.
In Dauphin today, there will be a commemoration service at Credit Union Place starting at 10:45 this morning. Masks will be mandatory at the service and they will require you to show your immunization card and photo I.D. After the commemoration service, attendees will head to the cenotaph on Memorial Boulevard for 12 pm.
CKDM will air our Remembrance Day program beginning at 10:55 am. There are also services happening in Grandview and Kinisota. Gilbert Plains will hold a service at the legion in Gilbert starting at 10:45.
