The Portraits of Honour National Tour

The Portraits of Honour National Tour, in a mural, honours 157 Canadian soldiers, sailors, and aircrew who have lost their lives in Afghanistan.

It started touring Canada on May 26th, and is slated to go right across the county from coast to coast to coast. If you want to read their Tour Diary, and see their photo gallery, go to www.portraitsofhonour.ca/index.cfm?page=blog.

The bus will be in Ottawa today and tomorrow at the following places and times -

Friday, November 11th it will be on Parliament Hill, and will be open for public viewing from 9:15 a.m. to 5:00 p.m..

On Saturday, November 12th, it will be at the National War Museum at 1 Vimy Drive. The public viewing will be from 9:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m..

Go to www.portraitsofhonour.ca for more information.

Postscript #1 - Under the title of "Remembrance Day: Lest we forget" — a day set aside to honour sacrifice — there are a number of articles available online on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation's website at www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/2010/11/05/f-remembrance-day.html.

As well, CBC will pay tribute to Canada's fallen soldiers today through live video, audio, and online streaming of the ceremony from the War Memorial in Ottawa, starting at 10:00 a.m. EST this morning. Go to www.cbc.ca/video/#/Radio for details.

Postscript #2 - There will be free admission to the Canadian War Museum www.warmuseum.ca and the Canadian Museum of Civilization www.civilization.ca on Friday, November 11.

Today at exactly 11 a.m., sunlight will shine through a single window to frame the headstone of Canada’s Unknown Soldier.

A limited number of free tickets will be available at 9 a.m. at the Information Desk. No reservations permitted.

This event will also be webcast live from Memorial Hall on November 11, starting at 10:45 a.m. on the Museum’s website, and broadcast within the Museum.

For more information on the programs available today, and for a link to the live webcast, go to www.warmuseum.ca/programs/remembrance-at-the-canadian-war-museum.

Tomorrow's Post: Researching Canadian WWI Records with Rick Roberts of Global Genealogy at the Quinte Branch (OGS) AGM.

Canada's Veterans' Week

Canadian Veterans' Week will remember those Canadians who are, and have been, members of the Canadian Armed Forces. Veterans Affairs Canada, www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/veterans-week, is asking us to "Make remembrance more than something you feel. Make it something you do".

This Veterans’ Week, take the remembrance challenge - "There are many ways to show that you remember and honour our Veterans". For instance -

• Pin a poppy above your heart.

• Attend the local Remembrance Day ceremony.

• Talk to a friend or relative who has just returned home from Afghanistan or who served in other areas of conflict.

• Listen to Veterans talk about their experiences.

• Create a mashup and share it on the Veterans Affairs Canada YouTube Channel.

• Visit the Veterans Affairs Canada Facebook fan page, write on our wall, and share how you remember.

• Follow Veterans Affairs Canada on Twitter and tweet about how you remember.
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• Change your Facebook profile picture to a poppy.
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• Blog, tweet or update your Facebook status about the importance of remembrance.

You can share your experiences with people who have put their experiences online in a video at the Remembrance Feed at www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/feature/remember/social?startRow=61 

You can share the experiences of the students at Westgrove School from Winnipeg, Manitoba, to the experience of Jason Peters from College of New Caledonia, Prince George, B.C., to the experience of Cindi Hachey from Maugerville, New Brunswick.

Visit the Events page at www.veterans.gc.ca/eng/remembrance/veterans-week/events for more information on  the events nearest you.

As the website says, "Together, it is our duty to pass on the legacy and keep the memories of our Canadian Veterans alive."

Tomorrow's Post: Royal Canadian Navy Ledger Sheets (1910-1941)

Blogger Showcases Canada’s Veterans' Week (November 5-11)

(Ottawa, Canada - November 3, 2011) In accepting the remembrance challenge of this year’s Veterans’ Week, “Make remembrance more than something you feel. Make it something you do”, Canadian blogger, Elizabeth Lapointe, will have a whole week of Canadian military-related posts on her blog, www.GenealogyCanada.blogspot.com.

Lapointe says, “Coming from a military family, and married into one, Veterans’ Week means something special to me. It is in this spirit that I will post on related Canadian military websites and blogs, culminating with a special Remembrance Day post on November 11th.”

Some examples of the posts planned during Veterans’ Week include a post on Veterans’ Week itself, listing the different events planned across Canada; a post covering the Wreath Laying Ceremony at the National Military Cemetery at Ottawa’s Beechwood Cemetery in December; and on November 11th (Remembrance Day), there will be a post on The Portraits of Honour National Tour, which has been going across Canada since May, and which will stop in Ottawa on November 11th and 12th.

Also included will be a special “Canadian Military” websites and blogs list that will be posted on Monday, November 7th as a special edition of the “New/Improved Canadian Websites and Blogs” series, which is published every Monday.

“I have gone through the military websites and blogs, and have picked the ones which have special meaning and remembrance for this week. Join me as I take the journey to the best websites and blogs honouring Veterans’ Week - November 5th to the 11th," says Lapointe.

About GenealogyCanada

The blog, www.GenealogyCanada.blogspot.com, has been covering Canadian genealogy, heritage, and history since the first of over 500 posts was published in January, 2008.

At the www.GenealogyCanada.com website, there are over 30 monthly newsletters covering news on Canadian genealogy, heritage, and history, including the famous “Website of the Month”.

Tomorrow's Post: What is Canadian Veterans' Week?