It’s a poignant ceremony held every year around Remembrance Day as a way to ensure Canada’s fallen soldiers are not forgotten.
It was a chilly, snowy morning as the 2022 No Stone Left Alone ceremony was held at Edmonton’s Beechmount Cemetery on Monday.
The 12th annual ceremony started with a procession into the cenotaph area, which included dozens of cadets and members of the Edmonton Police Service pipes and drums, as well as students from Riverbend School.
Maureen Bianchini-Purvis, whose parents served for Canada in the Second World War, started the No Stone Left Alone movement in 2011. The first ceremony was held at Edmonton’s Beechmount cemetery.
It has become her mission to see that one day all of the soldiers’ headstones would have a poppy placed in their honour at Remembrance Day.
Since then, the tradition has expanded beyond anything those behind the first ceremony thought possible.
Students attending the ceremony in Edmonton Monday laid poppies on the headstones of more than 4,000 men and women who served in Canada’s Armed Forces and who are buried in the Field of Honour.
Lt.-Gov. Salma Lakhani was in attendance, and asked the students placing their poppies to remember the sacrifices the women and men in uniform made so they could enjoy their peace, freedom and human rights.
“I would like you to think about how you, and young people around the world today, enjoy a truly precious gift thanks to the sacrifices of our fallen heroes,” Lakhani said.
“You are free to question, to explore ideas, to express yourselves and to choose what you believe. You are free to learn and to create whatever future you imagine for yourselves regardless of your culture, gender, ethnicity or religion. You are free to live in peace.
“Remember, this is not the case in every part of the world.”
Brig.-Gen. Steve Graham, commander of the 3rd Canadian Division, began his military career in 1987. He served tours in Bosnia and Afghanistan. He took over command of the 3rd division earlier this year and oversees 12,000 Armed Forces Members.
He acknowledged that with another Remembrance Day approaching, Canadians from coast to coast will gather to pay respect to the men and women who gave their lives to maintain the freedom that Canadians enjoy.
“Some people will think about and remember a specific friend or relative, while others may say a quiet thank you to all soldiers not knowing anyone by name,” Graham said.
“Over the past 123 years, Canada has repeatedly stepped up whenever there was a need to fight for what we believe is right.”
Graham recognized that fighting for what is right has come at a “huge cost.”
“Over those 123 years, almost 120,000 Canadians have been killed in the service of our nation. One-hundred-twenty thousand is a huge number. It’s a number that’s hard to comprehend and it’s easy to become numb to. But we need to look beyond that number and we need to remember these are 120,000 individual lives that were lost.
“Each one of those men and women have stories and they have histories for us to learn and to reflect on.”
In Flanders Field was read virtually by Chloe Thomas from Middleton Regional High School in Middleton, N.S. The Last Post was played, follow by two minutes of silence. Several dignitaries then placed wreaths at the cenotaph, before the students and guests of honour laid poppies on the headstones at the cemetery.
This year, ceremonies are being held in 90 communities in eight provinces across Canada.
Last year, 7,702 students from 88 communities placed 67,171 poppies on headstones at 131 ceremonies.
Visit the No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation’s website to learn more about the movement.