Students and staff gathered in Grant Hall this Remembrance Day to honour veterans.
On Nov. 11, spectators gathered on campus to observe the national holiday. In a collaboration between the Rector, the Principal’s Office, and Faith and Spiritual Life, classes were cancelled from 10:30 a.m. to 11:30 a.m. to allow for participation in the ceremony.
Director, Faith and Spiritual Life, and Interfaith Chaplain Erin Burns began the service with a land acknowledgement noting the importance of Indigenous veterans in the commemoration of Remembrance Day.
“We offer this land acknowledgement as we begin quite intentionally, ensuring our understanding of veterans includes Indigenous veterans, people of colour, and women,” Burns said.
Burns continued, explaining the significance of holding the Remembrance Day service in Grant Hall. She noted its history as a military hospital and commonwealth facility during World War I, and as an entertainment centre for troops and a meal hall during World War II.
“We ground our remembrance in the contributions of the Queen’s community, students, staff, faculty and alumni, not only in the First and Second World Wars but currently and in an ongoing deep hope for a future of peace,” Burns said.
The Queen’s Choral Ensemble led the group in singing “O Canada.” A rendition of the Last Post followed, the solemn trumpet call honouring fallen service . After a moment of silence, Rector Niki Boytchuk-Hale delivered a reading of Canadian poem “In Flanders Fields,” a famous war poem written by Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae during World War I.
Co-President of the Queen’s Native Students Association Kaiya Mongrain, ConEd ’25 commemorated her great grandfather and Indigenous World War II veteran Edward Mongrain before reading two poems from The Dialogues: the Song of Francis Pegahmagabow by Armand Garnet Ruffo, an Anishinaabe writer and associate professor in the Department of Languages, Literatures and Cultures. The book’s collection of poems describes the story of Indigenous World War I veteran Francis Pegahmagabow.
“That’s the way, isn’t it? We are told and should never forget to realize we are never alone,” Mongrain read from the poem “Scene One: Setting the Stage.”
The addition of Ruffo’s poetry to this year’s service was part of the University’s aim to “include the voices of Indigenous veterans in our observance this year,” Erin Burns wrote in a statement to The Journal.
The Managing Director for the Canadian Institute for Military and Veteran Health Research Paul Hook discussed the University’s work in service including veteran mental health research and the Garnet Families, a program that offers resources and communities for service personnel. “We continue to those who serve us, so that in the future hopefully we will never have to ask them to go again and fight for our freedom and safety,” he said, addressing the audience.
Burns offered remembrance for “those we knew and know, and for the many more we did not and will not know.” The service concluded with a call to dedicate ourselves to remembrance and to fostering peace in today’s world.
Attendees left Grant Hall and proceeded to the 5th Field Company plinth, where they were invited to place their poppies on wreaths laid out by event speakers.
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