Poppies adorned the shirts of students across all Kenora Catholic elementary schools on Friday in honour of Remembrance Day. With November 11th falling on a Sunday this year, schools held their prayer services today to recognize the sacrifice of Canada's veterans and those who continue to serve this country.
"We focused on how we remember the soldiers and what they did for us. I think it's important to remember about the people who sacrificed their lives and died for us," said Neveah Spencer who is in Grade 6 at École Ste-Marguerite Bourgeoys.
SMB, St. John School, St. Louis School and Pope John Paul II School held a special Remembrance Day Prayer Service which focused on world peace and remembering those who have served Canada.
At SMB, the famous poem In Flanders Fields, written by Canadian physician Lieutenant-Colonel John McCrae, was shown in a video clip of Charlie Brown and his friends visiting Flanders Fields in Belgium and reciting the poem.
"I think it's neat how [McCrae] writes as if the dead were talking so that we remember the dead. We're saying thank you because they did lots of stuff for us," said Grade 6 student, Waverley Wiebe.
Over at Pope John Paul II School, students heard from teacher Jordan Temple, a retired Master Bombardier who served in Bosnia in 2000-2001 during their prayer service.
"When we see people wear poppies there's often a saying that goes, 'Lest we forget'. What we mean by that is unless we remember to fight against the bad things that created the world wars, the bad ideas, bad thoughts, the bad way we treated each other, unless we stop those things, these could happen again. It is a way of saying that we must always be ready to stop those things from happening," he told students during the assembly.
Each class also presented a wreath which was laid at the front of the assembly at the very beginning of the service.
St. Louis School held their school assembly on Friday as well, and will also host the Keewatin public ceremony on Sunday, Nov. 11th beginning at 10:30 a.m. St. Thomas Aquinas High School will hold their Remembrance Day Prayer Service on Monday, Nov. 12th at 10:30 a.m.