Official Statement from the Vimy Foundation on events in Ottawa on the weekend of 29-30 January 2022

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It is with dismay that we learned about the events that happened at several memorials in Ottawa, last weekend, notably at the Canadian War Memorial, where the remains of an unidentified Canadian soldier who died at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917 lay. The National War Memorial, also known as “The Response”, was originally inaugurated in 1939 to commemorate the Canadian contribution to the First World War. It now symbolizes the sacrifice of all Canadian Armed Forces personnel and is also the site of a yearly national Remembrance Day ceremony, every November 11th.

The Vimy Foundation is adamant that the Canadian War Memorial and the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument, among others, deserve better respect than what was seen on the images and videos shared during last weekend, or alleged by witnesses.

The Vimy Foundation would also like to thank citizens who took great care of the recently defaced monuments by carefully cleaning them. These citizen’s initiatives reassure us of the collective ability to protect the memory of our veterans and the approximately 116,000 Canadians who have died in combat in the last century.

We encourage Canadians to commemorate, remember and educate themselves. What we do today, marks us for tomorrow.

Lest we forget.