A poignant tradition that started in Edmonton five years ago expanded to include even more Canadian cities this year in its goal to place a poppy on the headstone of every Canadian who has served in the country’s armed forces.
The No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation held remembrance ceremonies in 25 cities from coast-to-coast Monday, up from 18 cities last year.
The ceremony at Edmonton’s Beechmount Cemetery saw several students lay poppies on the headstones of Canada’s fallen.
A total of 44,000 poppies were laid in more than 100 cemeteries across Canada Monday.
The founder of the event, Maureen Bianchini-Purvis, said the annual ceremony has had a big impact on students over the years and it’s nice to see they’re getting the message of how important it is to remember.
“I asked them to write to me personally a reflection letter every year on their experience, and when you read them you know. They always tell me they never thought of remembrance like this, that it becomes very real, that they stand near a stone and recognize it could have been the age of their older brother,” she said.
Bianchini-Purvis, whose parents served for Canada in the Second World War, started the No Stone Left Alone movement in 2011.
“My mother passed away when I was a young girl of 12, and as she was dying she asked not to be forgotten on Remembrance Day,” Bianchini-Purvis said.
To honour her mother’s dying wish, Bianchini-Purvis has been coming to Edmonton’s Beechmount Cemetery each November to place a poppy on the graves of her parents.
One year while doing so, her daughter noticed that many soldiers’ headstones did not have a poppy. From that day, it became their mission to one day see a poppy placed at every soldier’s headstone across Canada.
Watch below: Maureen Bianchini-Purvis was the Global Edmonton Woman of Vision in November 2014
A No Stone Left Alone ceremony was also held at the Edmonton Cemetery Monday.
Capt. Garret Book was one of 31 soldiers from the 1 Combat Engineer Regiment who attended and helped the students lay poppies.
“It’s great to see a future generation carrying on the things I did when I was a kid, remembering the sacrifices of those before us, as well as instilling that sense of duty,” Book said.
Elora Beluse, a Grade 7 student at Westmount Junior High, was one of those students. She said it’s important to pay respect to the people who have served their country.
“I feel like this person is someone I can try to live up to,” she said. “Their sacrifice is very great and it is important to our country. They fought for our freedom and they fought for all of our rights.”
Watch below: Thousands of Edmonton students take part in No Stone Left Alone services in Edmonton. Quinn Ohler reports.
Those who spoke at the ceremony at Beechmount Cemetery Monday asked the students in attendance to carry on the tradition if they have kids one day.
Watch below: Calgary students take part in No Stone Left Alone ceremony at Burnsland Cemetery
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