Regina remembers during inaugural Decoration Day
The first inaugural Decoration Day ceremony took place in Regina on June 5, 2022. (Luke Simard/CTV News)
Regina’s Victoria Park was host to the inaugural Decoration Day ceremony, meant to honour those who served in the Canadian Armed Forces.
Retired major Brad Hrycyna from the Royal United Services explained the many reasons why this particular day is important to the veteran community.
"Decoration Day is Canada’s original day of remembrance and it started in 1890 recognizing veterans,” said Hrycyna.
In 1931 the federal government changed its official day of Remembrance to November 11th.
Hrycyna added it is important to bring attention and remember those who have served in the military.
"What we wanted to do was to bring more attention to our veterans by marking it here in Victoria Park,” said Hrycyna.
Volunteers took their turn standing with the guards over the period of the day.
Volunteers included family members of war veterans and veterans themselves, like Vincent Murphy who stood for himself and his family.
Murphy was a member of the 26th Field Regiment in the Royal Canadian Artillery in Brandon, Manitoba.
“I am representing my family, the Murphy clan, originally from the Grand County District and the men who served in the First World War, the Second World War, and the Korean War and also myself,” said Murphy.
The changing of the guard took place every 15 minutes with two sentries and four volunteer civilian sentries.
Organizers say they had to turn away people wanting to participate due to high demand.
"It tells me that remembrance is alive and well,” said Hrycyna. “We have a lot of older people here and one of our goals is to engage more youth and get that started at an early age.”
Two new pedestals were also unveiled around the cenotaph honouring the Royal Canadian Legion.
“There’s really nobody left to tell their stories and so we came up with this idea of putting commemorative pedestals around the park in the center of Regina,” said Hrycyna.
Organizers hope the inaugural day becomes a yearly event and spreads to different communities around Canada.
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