Canada Company was pleased to support and attend the 1914-1918 WWI In Memoriam ceremony, July 31 2014 at the Varsity Stadium in Toronto. As Chairman of the In Memoriam Advisory Committee, HCol and Canada Company founder Blake Goldring was honoured to be a part of the event.
An evening filled with remembrance and music, the Centennial Commemoration remembered those lost in conflict, and those whose lives were forever changed. The evening was guided by Brian Stewart, retired CBC news correspondent, and the music provided by a number of military bands from the GTA as well as vocalists Danielle Bourrée, Olivia Laquerre and Jean Miso.
The evening offered an opportunity to reflect upon a major moment in military and world history, and saw speeches from The Honourable David C. Onley, Lieutenant-Governor of Ontario, Professor Margaret MacMillan from the University of Oxford, and General Thomas J. Lawson, Chief of the Defense Staff. Their thoughtful words made for a moving evening to remember the fear and sacrifice of so many across the world, for those who waited year after year for a peace that seemed just a fading dream. Not least of all was a performance by Ruth Ann Onley, singing We Are the people of the Maple Leaf, an ode to Canada written by her husband, alongside the Canadian Children’s Opera Company. The salute to Canada’s military history declares:
“We are the people of the Maple Leaf.
Proud to defend our home in war and peace;
Guardians of land, of tree, of sky and sea;
We are the people of the Maple Leaf.”
Canada Company was grateful to be able to contribute to such an event.