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Every year on November 11, Canadians gather at memorials from coast to coast to remember those who died in wartime. Ottawa hosts the National Remembrance Day ceremony, usually attended by the Governor General, the Prime Minister, veterans and the general public, and broadcast across Canada. The ceremony takes place at the National War Memorial, within view of Parliament Hill.

The War Memorial owes its prominent position to former Prime Minister Mackenzie King who insisted that Confederation Square be designed with the Memorial in the centre, despite the difficulties it posed for traffic circulation.

Designed by Vernon March, the Memorial features twenty-three bronze figures, representing people who fought in the First World War, emerging from an arch, moving from war into peace. Overhead, winged figures symbolize Peace and Liberty.

Factoids

• Although it was designed to commemorate those who died in the "war to end all wars," the Memorial was not unveiled until 1939, months before the Second World War began.
• King George VI unveiled the Memorial during his 1939 visit, the first time a reigning monarch had come to Canada.
• The dates commemorating the Second World War (1939-1945) and the Korean War (1950-1953) were added in 1982.

  In Flanders fields the poppies blow, Between the crosses, row on row, That mark our place; and in the sky The larks, still bravely singing, fly Scarce heard amid the guns below. We are the Dead. Short days ago We lived, felt dawn, saw sunset glow, Loved, and were loved, and now we lie In Flanders fields. Take up your quarrel with the foe: To you from failing hands we throw The torch; be yours to hold it high. If ye break faith with us who die We shall not sleep, though poppies grow In Flanders fields. John McCrae (1872-1918)

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We come from the land of the ice and snow,from the midnight sun where the hot springs blow.