What's planned for London's Remembrance Day ceremony

CBC News will be marking Remembrance Day on Friday with special coverage from Ottawa, starting at 10 a.m. ET. Find all the details here.

For the first time in three years, London's major Remembrance Day ceremony will be held without COVID-19 pandemic restrictions, which organizers hope will result in the return of thousands of people to Victoria Park.

The minute of silence is at 11 a.m. and will be preceded by a parade of veterans and military members that will leave the London Delta Armouries hotel at 10:15 a.m.  

The parade will march west down Dundas Street, then north on Wellington Street and will end at the cenotaph in the southeast corner of Victoria Park.

The parade dates back to the time when the hotel was the site of the London Armouries, which used to house an artillery unit and the 4th Battalion of the Royal Canadian Regiment.

"They would form up in front of the armouries and march to the cenotaph, and to this day we honour that route," said Randy Warden, chairperson of the London Remembrance Day committee.

When the pandemic struck in 2021, the ceremony was scaled back to allow for only 25 invited guests amid a series of health restrictions. 

"Last year, when we had hoped things would have been back to normal, the 25 was lifted only to 100 invited guests. And for an event that can draw a couple of thousand people, [the restrictions] were challenging to work with," said Warden.

Changes to the event

Although public health restrictions have been lifted, the organizing committee has maintained a number of modifications that were made during the pandemic.

One of them is to allow veterans to observe the ceremony from buses parked on Dufferin Avenue. Five buses from London's Parkwood Institute filled with elderly veterans from the hospital will be situated close to the Cenotaph. 

Another change is to limit the number of wreaths laid at the ceremony to eight. "This was appreciated by many of the older veterans who thought the ceremony had gotten quite lengthy," said Warden.

The public is now invited to lay additional wreaths before 10 a.m. on Remembrance Day.

Wreath to honour the late Queen

This year a special wreath honouring the late Queen Elizabeth will also be laid at the cenotaph. It will occur just before the ceremony.

Warden says many people may not realize that the Queen was a veteran who served as a military truck driver and mechanic.

"She served during the Second World War, and right up to her dying days, her fellow Veterans held her near and dear to the heart."

This year's honorary veteran is Tom Hennessy, a flight lieutenant with the Royal Air Force during the Second World War. Hennessy drew attention earlier this year when he walked 100 miles and raised more than $55,000 in support of homeless veterans.

"Tom turned 100 years old a few months ago, and he will be there, probably in uniform … and he will lay the Legion wreath on behalf of all veterans," said Warden.

Once again, the local Silver Cross Mother will be Carolyn Wilson, whose son Mark Wilson was killed in Afghanistan in 2006. She will represent everyone who has lost family members in the service of their country.

After the ceremony, Londoners are invited to attend a local branch of the Royal Canadian Legion to visit with veterans.