It’s Old News: Lest We Forget

By MEDICINE HAT NEWS on November 6, 2025.

For 105 years Canadians have held November 11 as a moment to pause in silence to honour and remember the men and women who have served and continue to serve Canada during times of war, conflict and peace.

The first Remembrance Day was first observed in 1919 throughout the British Commonwealth, originally called “Armistice Day” to commemorate the armistice agreement that ended the First World War on Monday, November 11, 1918, at 11 a.m.

For 10 years, from 1921-30, Armistice Day was held on the Monday of the week which Nov. 11 fell. In 1931, Alan Neill, Member of Parliament for Comox-Alberni (B.C.) introduced a bill to observe Armistice Day only on Nov. 11. The bill also changed the name to ‘Remembrance Day’ as we celebrate today, with the first official celebration on Nov. 11, 1931.

The 1931 Remembrance Day ceremony in Medicine Hat saw a ceremony held at the Cenotaph with a two-minute silence observed. The 1931 ceremony was the first deemed a public holiday, bringing a larger crowd than any other previous observances of Armistice Day in Riverside Park since 1918, according to the Nov. 12, 1931 edition of the News.

The News is looking back at notable events from Medicine Hat’s history, as we celebrated our 140th publishing year on Oct. 29.

In the Nov. 11 edition, pictured above, the Medicine Hat Branch of the Royal Canadian Legion penned a letter about the importance of the day. Former prime minister Robert Borden wrote about why Canada “unsheathed the sword and stood with the other great Dominions side-by-side with the Motherland.

“Not for love of battle, not for lust of conquest, not for greed of possessions, but for the cause of honour, to maintain sole pledges, to uphold principles of liberty, to withstand forces that would convert the world into an armed camp; yes, in the very name of the peace that we sought at any price, save that dishonour, we have entered into this war.”

The Nov. 11, 1931 Remembrance Day service opened with the singing of “Abide by me,” led by the Salvation Army band. Rev. D. A. Gunn spoke at the Cenotaph, asking those in attendance to honour the dead and to share the dream of peace with those who fought.

“Let us be clear. Their dream was peace. They were deluded as we all were into believing that the best way to bring peace was to kill each other. That was and is a delusion. There’s a better way. That way of the Prince of Peace. Though shalt love thy neighbour as thyself. If we have learned that lesson by their dying, then they have not died in vain.

“If we are not better men; if we are not letting God make us better men, then de do but dishonour our illustrious dead by mock ceremonies.”

This is the 96th Remembrance Day, 109 years from the end of the First World War. The City of Medicine Hat will host its annual Remembrance Day service at the Esplanade Arts & Heritage Centre on Nov. 11 with doors opening at 8:30 a.m. and the ceremony at 9:25 a.m.

As we honour those who died while serving Canada in The Great War, Second World War, Korean War and other conflicts in history, the call for peace and loving thy neighbour rings louder than any cannon.

“It is the anniversary of the conclusion of hostilities in The Great War, and it brings to our minds things we ought to never forget. It is not a day of boastful exultation over the defeat of a fallen foe; far less is it the time for the glorification of war. We remember the horrors of battle, that was may pledge ourselves to peace; we may commemorate the lives of those who died for their country, that we may learn how to live for it.”

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