SUDBURY -- The traditional Remembrance Day Service that normally takes place at the Sudbury Community Arena has been cancelled this year due to COVID-19.

Instead, a virtual Remembrance Day production was held at Memorial Park Sunday morning. 

Officials with the Sudbury chapter of the UN NATO Veterans of Canada held a small ceremony that was recorded and will be shared on YouTube for all to see.

"Here in Sudbury we have a lot of schools and seniors homes, along with long term care homes that we do Remembrance Day ceremonies with the week before and this year, they are not going to be able to have them," said Dan Draper, president of the Sudbury chapter of the UN NATO Veterans of Canada.

"So, what we decided to do, is do a virtual one. There are people that are shut in and they can’t come to the services so it’s nice for them to be able to play it at home, at their leisure."

One of the individuals in attendance was Billy Kerr, a Sudbury Soldier.

Kerr did two tours in Afghanistan.  His first, was in 2006 and his second tour was the next year, in 2007.


2020 Remembrance Day Sudbury
"So, what we decided to do, is do a virtual one. There are people that are shut in and they can’t come to the services so it’s nice for them to be able to play it at home, at their leisure," said Dan Draper, president of the Sudbury chapter of the UN NATO Veterans of Canada. Oct.4/20 (Molly Frommer/CTV News Northern Ontario)

"I was doing a job, we were training Afghanistan police and so we were embedded outside the wire in a little outpost and on a patrol I got injured going through a doorway," said Kerr.

"I was the last guy through the door and I was on top of an Improvised Explosive Device and when the room filled up they popped the detonator I was standing on top of it."

Kerr says he lost a lot of close friends that day, which is why Nov.11 is a very important day to him, and always will be. 

Also in attendance were local MP’s and MPP’s who say even though this service was different compared to previous years, it was very personal. 

"I’ve been coming for years to the arena, and it really moved me, this smaller experience," said Jamie West, Sudbury MPP.

2020 Remembrance Day service Sudbury
In attendance for the virtual Remembrance Day service were local MP’s and MPP’s who say even though this service was different compared to previous years, it was very personal. Oct.4/20 (Molly Frommer/CTV News Northern Ontario)

"I saw a lot of friends, I thought of my grandparents who had served, my Father who had served and it just seemed so much closer and I think it’s one of those things that really connected which is maybe the silver lining of COVID, to have that opportunity."

The video will be on YouTube the week before Remembrance Day.