It’s time to honour those who have served — and those who continue to serve — our country in war, conflicts and peace missions at Remembrance Day ceremonies across Vancouver Island on Sunday.
Cities and municipalities throughout Vancouver Island will host a number of events.
• The largest gathering will be the Victoria Remembrance Day ceremony at the provincial cenotaph at the legislature. The ceremony runs 10:30 a.m. to 12:15 p.m., followed by a Remembrance Day reception at Public Service Branch 127, from 12:15 to 3 p.m. at the main floor, 514 Government St.
For more information, contact Victoria Remembrance Day Committee Poppy Fund at 250-386-2533 or [email protected]
• Esquimalt ceremony, at the cenotaph on Esquimalt Road at 11 a.m. Following the service, a reception hosted by Royal Canadian Legion Branch 172 will be held at CFB Esquimalt’s Chief and Petty Officer’s Mess on Lyall Street.
A ceremony will also be held at God’s Acre, 1200 Colville Rd. Meet in the parking lot at 9:10 a.m.; ceremony begins at 9:30 a.m.
• An Aboriginal Remembrance Day ceremony, attended by personnel from Maritime Forces Pacific/Joint Task Force Pacific on behalf of the Canadian Armed Forces, takes place at 9 a.m. at Goldstream Park in Langford.
• Nanaimo’s Remembrance Day ceremony takes place in the hall of the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 256 Nanaimo, 1630 E. Wellington St., from 7 to 8 a.m.
Stay for breakfast, which starts at 9 a.m., or a beef on a bun and salad lunch between noon and 1 p.m. For more information, go to facebook.com/Branch10LegionNanaimo.
You can also attend a number of performances:
• Provincial carillonneur Rosemary Laing will participate in Bells of Peace: A Remembrance of Those Who Served in the First World War, a Royal Canadian Legion initiative to have all major carillons across Canada ring out on the same day. The recital is set for 4:30 to 4:45 p.m. at the B.C. legislature.
• Imax Victoria will commemorate Remembrance Day with two films, D-Day: Normandy 1944 and Dunkirk, Nov. 8 through 11.
Tickets are $15.20 for adults, $14 for students, $13 for seniors and youth and $8.65 for children.
D-Day: Normandy 1944 will play three times each day, including 6 p.m., and Dunkirk will play nightly at 7:15 p.m. to accommodate audience members who would like to see both in a double feature.
Tickets are available at the box office and online at imaxvictoria.com. For more information, go to royalbcmuseum.bc.ca.
Synagogue invites all faiths to Kristallnacht event
People of all faiths are invited to a commemoration of Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), tonight at the Congregation Emanu-El Synagogue.
The name Kristallnacht refers to the pieces of broken glass covering the streets after the windows of Jewish-owed stores, buildings and synagogues in Germany and Austria were shattered on the evening of Nov. 9, 1938.
Kristallnacht was a hint of the greater tragedy to come.
The Victoria Shoah Project invites the public to remember all who perished in the Holocaust.
The event includes a candle-lighting ceremony by survivors, second- and third-generation descendants and students and youth.
The program includes a variety of speakers, musicians and the reading of a Pledge of Mutual Respect and Support by politicians, multi-faith representatives and law-enforcement leaders.
The event is free to join.
It starts at 7 tonight at the Congregation Emanu-El Synagogue, 1461 Blanshard St.
For more information, go to victoriashoahproject.ca.
Sooke museum presents First World War exhibition
The Sooke Region Museum is presenting British Columbia’s War, 1914-1918, an exhibition that aims to educate British Columbians about the contributions of their forebears in the First World War.
The travelling exhibition, which opens Friday, features powerful material about the Great War from the Royal B.C. Museum collections.
The Sooke Region Museum will contribute artifacts, photos and archives from its own collection to offer a local perspective.
Among the contributions is an army pay book, a square wooden carving by a soldier from 1914 and a painting of a war scene by Vera Theussen, donated by the Sooke branch (#54) of the Royal Canadian Legion.
“The Great War had a monumental impact on the formation of British Columbia as a political entity, with its own emerging sense of identity,” said the Royal B.C. Museum CEO Jack Lohman in a statement.
“The Royal B.C. Museum’s collections help show how the province coalesced around this traumatic global event, as soldiers and nurses from all corners and various ethnic groups of the province signed up for service.”
The exhibition is open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday to Sunday, until Feb. 10 at the Sooke Region Museum, 2070 Phillips Rd. in Sooke. For more information, go to sookeregionalmuseum.ca.
Textiles fest includes exhibits, discussions
Experience the diverse history of textile practice at Makeshift, Victoria’s first contemporary textiles festival, Friday to Sunday at multiple galleries and sites around Victoria.
The festival teems with innovative exhibitions, artists’ talks, workshops, a film screening and performance.
It brings together artists, arts organizations and the public for exhibitions and events that include more than 40 contemporary textile artists.
Makeshift is presented in partnership with the Art Gallery of Greater Victoria, the Atrium, Arc.hive Artist Run Centre, the CRD, Errant Art Space, Fifty-fifty Arts Collective, MediaNet, the Ministry of Casual Living and Xchanges Gallery.
All events are free.
Exhibitions at the Atrium, Arc.hive, Errant, Xchanges, Ministry of Casual Living and Fifty-fifty Arts Collective run 7 to 9 p.m. Friday and noon to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
For more information, go to make-shift.weebly.com.
Seafaring life explored at Craigdarroch
Learn more about how people who live near salt water can have a heightened awareness and tenacity that helps them overcome myriad hardships at The Anthropology of the Sea, a presentation by Seth C. Hawkins at Craigdarroch Castle on Tuesday.
Hawkins, an American academic, will talk about how people living in seafaring communities face risks and deal with challenges not encountered by their landlocked counterparts.
He will give examples from literature and folklore to show how achievements in overcoming the elements — either ending in tragedy or triumph — are chronicled and celebrated.
This year’s talk focuses on a time when the British Empire was at its apex — a watershed period in the history and literature of the Dominion — and how Victoria was involved.
Admission is by donation. Call or email to reserve a spot, as seating is limited.
The presentation will take place in the Visitor Centre multipurpose room at Craigdarroch Castle, 1050 Joan Cres. Participants can tour the castle after the presentation.
For more information, go to thecastle.ca.
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