Candlelight vigil held at Cobalt Veterans Cemetery
A group of volunteers in Cobalt, Ont. held their second annual candlelight vigil to pay respects to veterans buried at the Cobalt Veterans Cemetery.
Inspired by similar vigils in the Netherlands, around 200 solar-powered lights were placed at each gravestone that could be identified.
A service was held, featuring a performance by the Royal Canadian Legion Branch 44’s pipe band.
“When they were lit up, it was just very, very emotional for all of us. It’s absolutely spectacular,” said Susan White, one of the vigil’s organizers.
“Last night, for Remembrance Day, we had a little service at the cemetery. There were about 50 people there. Chris Kos went officiated, I sang, the papers were there. It was just, it was just a nice get together and just one we were all very honoured to honour our veterans in that way.”In addition to traditional ceremonial tribute candles over 200 solar-powered lights were placed across Cobalt Veterans Cemetery for the vigil to ensure each identifiable name on the gravestones could be read. (Photo courtesy of Ken Riley)Organizers told CTV News they hope to grow the event each year and are leaving the candles out tonight for people to visit.
They are also collecting donations to help the local legion branch with upkeep of the cemetery, which it has operated since the 1940s.
“My dad is there and he’s a vet. I have four uncles there, who are vets and so, that’s basically why I started it. Also, the profits go back toward the perpetual care of the cemetery,” said the vigil’s founder Ken Riley.
Riley is a war historian, who researched about 50 unidentified veterans buried in the cemetery, to ensure they were properly acknowledged and could receive a candlelight.
Organizers said other legion branches have already reached out to look into holding their own vigils in the future.
For more information on the vigil and the legion’s work with the veterans cemetery, visit their Facebook page.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Why wasn't the suspected Chinese spy balloon shot down over Canada?
Critics say the U.S. and Canada had ample time to shoot down a suspected Chinese spy balloon as it drifted across North America. The alleged surveillance device initially approached North America near Alaska's Aleutian Islands on Jan 28. According to officials, it crossed into Canadian airspace on Jan. 30, travelling above the Northwest Territories, Alberta and Saskatchewan before re-entering the U.S. on Jan 31.

Thieves cut huge hole in Ottawa restaurant wall to get at jewelry store next door
An Ottawa restaurateur says he was shocked to find his restaurant broken into and even more surprised to discover a giant hole in the wall that led to the neighbouring jewelry store.
Rescuers scramble in Turkiye, Syria after quake kills 4,000
Rescue workers and civilians passed chunks of concrete and household goods across mountains of rubble Monday, moving tons of wreckage by hand in a desperate search for survivors trapped by a devastating earthquake.
New details emerge ahead of Trudeau-premiers' health-care meeting
As preparations are underway for the anticipated health-care 'working meeting' between Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Canada's premiers on Tuesday, new details are emerging about how the much-anticipated federal-provincial gathering will unfold.
Quebec minister 'surprised' asylum seekers given free bus tickets from New York City
Quebec's immigration minister says she was 'surprised' to learn the City of New York is helping to provide free bus tickets to migrants heading north to claim asylum in Canada.
The world's deadliest earthquakes since 2000
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake shook Turkiye and Syria on Monday, killing thousands of people. Here is a list of some of the world's deadliest earthquakes since 2000.
Mendicino: foreign-agent registry would need equity lens, could be part of 'tool box'
Public Safety Minister Marco Mendicino says a registry to track foreign agents operating in Canada can only be implemented in lockstep with diverse communities.
Vaccine intake higher among people who knew someone who died of COVID-19: U.S. survey
A U.S. survey found that people who had a personal connection to someone who became ill or died of COVID-19 were more likely to have received at least one shot of the vaccine compared to those who didn’t have any loved ones who had been impacted by the disease.
opinion | Don Martin: Alarms going off over health-care privatization? Such an out-of-touch waste of hot political air
The chances Trudeau's health-care summit with the premiers will end with the blueprint to realistic long-term improvements are only marginally better than believing China’s balloon was simply collecting atmospheric temperatures, Don Martin writes in an exclusive column for CTVNews.ca, 'But it’s clearly time the 50-year-old dream of medicare as a Canadian birthright stopped being such a nightmare for so many patients.'