Hundreds attend Remembrance Day ceremony at Dartmouth's Sullivans Pond

Hundreds of people gathered at Sullivans Pond in Dartmouth, N.S., on Saturday for the annual Remembrance Day ceremony.

"Our rich military presence of soldiers from Nova Scotia goes back hundreds of years," saidTom Young with theNova Scotia Nunavut Command of the Royal Canadian Legion.

Anniversariesmarked in 2023 included 80 years since the Korean armistice agreement and 75 years of United Nationspeacekeeping. It is also the 100th anniversary of the Royal Canadian Navy Volunteer Reserve and 150th anniversary of the RCMP.

"Many of our finest have signed on the dotted line to say they would give everything they had, their lives, in order for the rest of us to be free," said Young.

The legion announced last month that the observance would be moved from its usual venue at Grand Parade in Halifax due to "a very sad situation of homeless people that are having a really rough time," said executive director Craig Hood, who speaks for the legion.

The site in front of city hall became one of six designated encampment areas last month.

Danita Curwin laid a wreath representing recipients of the Memorial Cross of Canadafor those who have lost loved ones in the line of duty. Her son, Pte. John Curwin, was killed while deployed to Afghanistan.

"It issuch an honour. It isnot only for my son. Itis for all that have died and gone before," said Curwin.

On Dec.13, 2008, four members of the armed forces, including Curwin, were sent to investigate a report of a suspicious object west of Kandahar. Their vehicle was then struck by an improvised explosive device.

In 2018, a plaque and three maple trees were placed in Mount Uniacke where Curwin grew up.

"Still today I always have a hole in my heart," Curwin said. "I carry him with me wherever I go."