Hundreds in Toronto remember veterans 'young and old'
Toronto residents gather at Old City Hall and Prospect Cemetery to pay respects
Toronto residents attended dozens of events around the city on Remembrance Day on Friday morning to show their respect for men and women who served in the Canadian Armed Forces.
At Old City Hall, hundreds of Toronto residents gathered for speeches, prayers, and the customary two minutes of silence at 11 a.m.
"Our veterans today are young and old," said Mayor John Tory in an address. "To those who made the ultimate sacrifice, we are forever in your debt."
John McCrae's poem In Flanders Fields was read aloud. The ceremony ended with a hymn and the laying of wreaths on the Old City Hall cenotaph.
Sunrise ceremony at Prospect Cemetery
Tory was also present at an event earlier in the day at Prospect Cemetery on St. Clair Avenue West, where a sunrise service was held at 8 a.m.
For Walter Stevens, it was an especially emotional moment.
His great-grandfather, a veteran of several wars, is buried at the cemetery. He took a private moment before the ceremony began to plant a Canadian flag at his gravesite.
"He did three tours in the First World War," said Stevens. "He lied about his age numerous times, so he came home, went back over, came home, went back over."
Teresa Buchanan was at Prospect Cemetery to begin a new tradition, bringing her two-year-old son Andrew to a Remembrance Day event for the first time.
"My husband's grandfather was a D-day veteran, and we think its important to teach our son about paying respect on Remembrance Day," she said.
"We just want to make sure that the memory lives."
Keeping the memory alive is important for 89-year-old Warren Riddell as well. He guarded German prisoners of war in Western Canada during the Second World War.
"It's to remember everyone that didn't come back. Fathers and sisters and brothers that didn't come back," he said.
Attending the Prospect Cemetery ceremony is a tradition for Riddell. "This will be my 63rd year coming to Prospect Cemetery. I go from here to City Hall."
With files from Michelle Cheung