By Clare Ogilvie
Whistler’s Remembrance Day service will be held this Nov. 11
starting at 10:50 a.m. with a colour parade travelling up Village Gate
Boulevard to the town’s cenotaph near the central firehall.
“We will have people from the air force coming up from
Abottsford, we will have navy representation from HMCS Discovery in Vancouver
and we will have both current serving army personnel and retired service
personnel,” said firefighter Brian Buchholz, who organizes the event for the
community each year.
Village Gate will be closed during the parade and service,
which should finish around 11:40 a.m.
There will also be more local youth involved this year with the
First Whistler Scouts acting as the cenotaph flag detail and the Whistler
Guides taking on the role of honourary wreath bearers.
The Whistler Children’s Chorus will also be on hand to perform
and two local students, Ali Wake and Chelsea Iaconetti-Bush, will read poems in
both French and English.
Buchholz’s remembrance message this year, while honouring all
Canadian service men and women, will highlight those in active service. So far,
42 Canadian soldiers and one diplomat have died since the Canadian military
deployed in Afghanistan in early 2002.
“This Nov. 11 is unlike a Remembrance Day we have seen in a
long time and I will acknowledge it,” he said.
Pastor Tim Dutcher-Walls of the Whistler Village Church will
also offer a prayer and benediction during the service and Blackcomb Helicopters
will do a fly-by.
After the ceremony The Rotary Club of Whistler will be providing hot refreshments and cookies.
