Quebecers honour battle sacrifice

Thousands of Quebecers marked Remembrance Day at ceremonies across the province, including a moving memorial in Montreal that drew generations of veterans.

A long line of RCMP officers dressed in red serge joined Canadian soldiers and reservists, who stood at attention for an hour and a half on McGill University's Lower Field, while dignitaries, including Mayor Gérald Tremblay, paused for Remembrance Day.

Soldiers gave a thunderous 21-gun salute along McGill's main avenue as hundreds of people wearing poppies watched from a safe distance.

Students mingled with Second World War veterans, who stood alongside the spouses of soldiers now serving in Afghanistan, to commemorate the sacrifices made by Canadians in uniform.

Wednesday's ceremony was difficult  for Shannon Coates, who lives on the St-Hubert military base while her husband Sgt. Landon Perry serves in Afghanistan with the Princess Patricia Light Infantry.

"It's very emotional, obviously, with him being overseas, and not being here," Coates said, holding back tears. "It's been really hard. We lost one of our best friends in the spring ... and two other friends in 2006."

The crowd at McGill was dotted with white haired veterans as well, who say they cherish the chance to look back at their war days.

"It means the world to me," said Dorothy Perks, a Pointe-Sainte-Charles resident who served in England during World War Two. "I live for these. I lost my father in 1917, I lost my borther, I lost my husband, and I was in the war myself for five years," said the octogenarian, who wore her medals to Wednesday's events.

That's why I come to these events."

This year's ceremony was held at McGill because of road construction around Montreal's permanent cenotaph memorial.

Human loss is raw for Valcartier soldiers

In Quebec City, about 250 soldiers from the nearby Valcartier base came into town for a Remembrance Day ceremony.

They were joined by Premier Jean Charest and other politicians at the Croix du Souvenir cenotaph near the massive stone gates to the Old City.

Soldiers serving in Afghanistan were honoured by the widow of Cpl. Jonathan Couturier, a 23-year-old Valcartier soldier killed by an improved explosive device this fall. She laid a wreath in their name.

Then student Qoma McKeown-Philip read a poem he wrote for the occasion.

"If I met a Canadian veteran, limping along on his injured leg, I would like to tell him he is a great man," he said.

There are currently 125 full-time soldiers from Quebec serving in Afghanistan. The next deployment from Valcartier is in 2010.