On November 11, 2026, ceremonies across Canada mark Remembrance Day, including national events at Ottawa’s National War Memorial.
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Canadians gathered on November 11, 2026 to mark Remembrance Day, reflecting on the legacy of war and remembering the men and women who served and died defending Canada. The national ceremony in Ottawa marks the 25th year since the start of the Afghanistan war, a conflict in which 40,000 Canadian Armed Forces members served and 159 lost their lives; it lasted more than 12 years and was the longest in Canadian history, with the largest deployment of Canadian troops since the Second World War.
In Ottawa, three Second World War veterans are expected to attend, and Prime Minister Mark Carney, Gov. Gen. Louise Arbour and other dignitaries are scheduled to lay wreaths at the National War Memorial. CF-18 fighter jets and a Black Hawk helicopter will perform flypasts over the national ceremony, while Griffon, Chinook and Cormorant helicopters and other RCAF aircraft will conduct flyovers at local ceremonies across the country. The day also marks the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Legion, founded in 1926 to create one main advocacy group for veterans’ benefits, and the 150th anniversary of the Royal Military College, with about 300 cadets expected to attend a parade for the occasion—around 200 more than usual.
The ceremonies come weeks after a fire at Canadian Forces Base Wainwright that claimed the lives of four soldiers and injured dozens of others during a training exercise. Three separate investigations, including one by military police, are looking into the accident at CFB Wainwright. Sgt. Morgan Wong of Edmonton, Pte. Shaun Farrell of Prince Albert, Sask., Pte. Aidan Goulding of North Vancouver and Pte. Hayden Lykkemark of Langley, B.C., were killed last month when strong winds swept up a grass fire burning on the automatic grenade launcher range and carried it across the training area; the last update from National Defence on Nov. 4 said of the 39 injured, 14 had been released from hospital and another 25 remained in hospital.
A separate Remembrance Day ceremony is planned for today at CFB Wainwright, where Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre is set to attend along with other dignitaries, military members and veterans. Silver Cross Mother Virginia Hicks will lay a wreath at the cenotaph in Ottawa on behalf of all mothers who lost a child who served in the military; Hicks lost her daughter during a training incident at CFB Petawawa in 2002, and she was chosen by the Royal Canadian Legion months before the Wainwright accident took place.
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