Students brave rain to lay poppies ahead of Remembrance Day 

The annual No Stone Left Alone ceremony is a yearly effort to place as many poppies on as many headstones as possible

CITYnews\ Kieran Delamont

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It was cool and wet on Wednesday morning as hundreds of students from Gorsebrook Junior High gathered to lay poppies on military headstones ahead of tomorrow’s Remembrance Day ceremonies.

The morning was part of the ‘No Stone Left Alone’ program, a nation-wide effort launched in 2011 that sees middle school students coming together with veterans and active duty military members for “an authentic experience that creates knowledge, understanding and appreciation of those who serve and of the sacrifice of Canada’s fallen.”

Students met at Vincent Massey Veteran’s Cemetery to place a poppy on each of the hundreds of gravestones there.

“Every Veterans Week, we pause to reflect on the service and sacrifices of Canada’s military members,” said Major Christine Cope, one of a number of speakers coming from the military. “We think of their courage, their bravery and their selflessness in defending Canada and the values that we hold dear.”

The No Stone Left Alone program was founded by Maureen Bianchini Purvis, the daughter of WWII vet Mary Bianchini.

Every year, she would go to the cemetery to lay a poppy on Remembrance Day in Edmonton. But seeing all the other headstones, without poppies, inspired her — along with her two daughters — to lay poppies on all of them, too.

From there, the program grew into something that could also serve an education role, teaching students about Remembrance Day.

“Maureen’s goal was not only to honour veterans today,” the No Stone Left Alone Memorial Foundation’s website reads.

“She and her family saw that the key to ongoing remembrance lay in engaging youth in a more meaningful and personal act of remembrance — so that they could truly understand and connect with the sacrifices made to give all of us the peace and freedoms we enjoy today, and carry that connection forward with them through their lives.”

This year marked the fifth year that students from Gorsebrook have taken part in the ceremony.

“I cannot think of a more engaging way to give our students an opportunity to reflect on peace, remembrance and history,” says Gorsebrook Junior High teacher Jean Claude Boudreau. “As teachers, we’re blessed to have the opportunity to start fresh each school year. We get to make a difference in the lives of our students and hopefully inspire them to go out and do the same.

“However, I do not know much about war and conflict. What do we know about war and conflict? What does anyone know, who has not fought to live , seen death and destruction or lost someone dear — what do they know about war?” he continued. “When we know little of war, we’re at risk of taking freedom for granted. So every day, and today especially, I think we should all understand that freedom is not free.”

It marked, as well, a bit of a return to Remembrance Day normality, after last year’s COVID-restricted ceremonies. In 2019, over 64,000 poppies were placed in over 120 cemeteries; COVID cut last year’s poppy count in half. This year, even as the country slowly emerges from the pandemic, that reality was never far from anyone’s minds.

“The global pandemic continues to challenge us,” said Capt. Rev. Andrea Harrison. “Each of us has gained a new appreciation for community, for those whom we hold dear, those who we have not been able to see in person. Yet we know there’s still more to do. Each of us is called to look out for each other, to foster and encourage the common good that binds us together. May today’s commemoration inspire us to work together for a better future.”