Monday, November 9, 2020

Members of the University of Toronto community are invited to come together virtually to honour soldiers and veterans via online Remembrance Day events organized by the university’s three campuses. 

The annual services on Nov. 11 were modified this year to protect the health and safety of the community during COVID-19 pandemic, and to help curb the spread of the virus. 

As a result, the number of people participating in the ceremonies has been reduced and the ceremonies themselves have been adjusted – all in order to respect public health guidelines while paying tribute to the students, faculty, staff and alumni who fell in the First and Second World Wars and other action. 

Here’s how Remembrance Day ceremonies will be observed at the three campuses this year: 

St. George

The Service of Remembrance will begin at 10:30 a.m. on Nov. 11 and will be streamed online, with members of the university able to register in advance to view the livestream.

President Meric Gertler and Chancellor Rose Patten are expected to attend the ceremony – which will not be open to the public – at Soldiers’ Tower.

The ceremony will feature: the recitation of the poem In Flanders Fields, written by University College and Temerty Faculty of Medicine alumnus John McCrae, who died in the battlefields of France towards the end of the First World War; the laying of wreaths; the observation of two minutes of silence; and the playing of hymns and the national anthem.

Campus police will be on site to ensure that people don’t gather. Road and pedestrian access will be restricted around Soldiers’ Tower before and during the ceremony.

Republished from U of T News