Remembrance Day began as Armistice Day and at one time both Armistice Day and Thanksgiving were held on the same day, the first Monday in November. That’s why in 1931 the federal government moved Thanksgiving to October and decreed the newly named Remembrance Day would be November 11th.

Chair of Saskatoon’s Poppy Campaign, Diane Robson, says their theme this year is Remember the Veterans of Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow as they try to highlight that veterans are not just those that fought in the World Wars. They are those that served in Korea, in Afghanistan and Bosnia, for example, and those that are serving now, and that also includes members of Police Services and the RCMP.

Saskatoon’s indoor Remembrance Day service at SaskTel Centre usually draws between 8 and 10-thousand people. Doors open at 9 Monday morning, the choir begins at 9;25 and the service begins at 10:25. Robson says the old and new guard and the future guard with Saskatoon’s 7 cadet corps will march on to the parade square.

You can catch a free bus from Market Mall and the Centre Mall Transit terminals at 9:45 a.m. and from the Downtown Special Events Stop at 23rd Street and 2nd Avenue beginning at 9 o’clock and running every 15 minutes until 10:15.