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Ryerson community members come together for annual Remembrance Day ceremony

By Alexandra Holyk

More than 100 Ryerson community members came together to honour Canadians who volunteered, served and gave their lives in war, as part of the university’s Remembrance Day ceremony on Nov. 11.

This year marks the 80th anniversary since the start of the Second World War.

Ryerson faculty, staff and students, as well as people from the surrounding area, gathered underneath the archway near the Ryerson Theatre in the Kerr Hall Quad for the ceremony. 

In 1948, a few years after the end of the Second World War, marked the establishment of the Ryerson Institute of Technology.

“What is now the heart of [the] Ryerson campus served as a training ground for many Canadian service people,” said university President Mohamed Lachemi. “Today we work, teach and study on these grounds because so many Canadians and others paid the ultimate price.”

Kathryn Rowan, manager of academic administration for the Faculty of Arts lead the singing of “O Canada.” Afterwards, Duaa Zahra, president of Ryerson’s Communication and Design Society, recited In Flander’s Fields.

“Though we’re recognizing the end of World War One and the beginning of World War Two today, we also remember those affected by the many conflicts that remain unsolved around the world,” said Ryerson’s Vice-President academic Michael Benarroch.

The ceremony concluded with the call of The Last Post played by Charlie Watson, a fourth-year music performance student from the University of Toronto. 

Community members then pinned poppies onto the memorial wreaths set out to commemorate members of the Canadian Armed Forces.

“As we gather today, I encourage you to reflect and remember all those by wars and conflicts around the world,” said Lachemi.

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