ABSTRACT
I am standing with 20,000 Canadians and French locals, bathed in a warm sun that silhouettes one of the most striking sites of memory on the Western Front: the Canadian Memorial at Vimy Ridge. We are marking 90 years since the iconic Canadian victory as well as the official rededication of the newly refurbished memorial by Queen Elizabeth, attended by the Prime Ministers of Canada and France. Some 3,500 Canadian youth, aged 15-18 years old, are also attending. The crowd’s energy is palpable. I feel an odd mix of excitement of ‘being here’, pride as a Canadian, yet an overriding somberness of one commemorating the fallen. As an academic, I am striving to understand what is happening in terms of remembrance: We are standing where thousands were killed and wounded and yet this place, with the green grass and forest, blue sky and white marbled memorial, is entrancingly beautiful.
