128 Canadian flags at Centennial Park in Sylvan Lake. (Veterans Voices of Canada)

By Sheldon Spackman

Paying Tribute

Sylvan Lake and Lacombe host Flags of Remembrance ceremonies

Sep 14, 2021 | 1:45 PM

A pair of central Alberta communities were among several across Canada over the weekend to pay tribute to the nation’s military, RCMP and other first responders on the 20^th anniversary of 9/11.

On Sept. 11, central Albertans gathered in both Sylvan Lake and Lacombe for an annual Flags of Remembrance ceremony.

The events are hosted by Veterans Voices of Canada – a non-profit organization that documents Canada’s military veterans on camera for both history and education, and to be donated to schools, museums and libraries.

The Flags of Remembrance ceremonies each raise 128 full-sized Canadian flags in their host communities, representing the 128,000 Canadian military and RCMP killed and missing in action service personnel lost in service from the Boer War to current missions. Plaques of Honour can be in tribute to past or present military or First Responder servicemen and women.

Al Cameron, founding executive director for Veterans Voices of Canada, says it’s all about remembering and ensuring people understand the importance of what the veterans and first responders do for us on a daily basis and in some cases, make the ultimate sacrifice.

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“On each one of those flag poles we have sponsored plaques of honour with the name of an honouree, past or present military or first responder hero,” he explains. “The idea is for people to walk that flag line from September until November 12 to remember and pay homage to these amazing people who serve us and serve the country.”

The Flags of Remembrance in Sylvan Lake can be seen at Centennial Park near the lakeshore, while the Flags of Remembrance in Lacombe can be seen along Highway 12 just east of the community. Cameron notes they also fly the Indigenous flag to pay homage to the Indigenous community and its military veterans and first responders, both past and present.

128 Canadian flags along Highway 12 east of Lacombe. (Lacombe Royal Canadian Legion)

“This coming Saturday, we’ll also put our flags on Highway 11 just east of Sylvan Lake,” adds Cameron. “There’s also a commemoration flag of the 20^th anniversary of 9/11. We wanted to make sure that people honoured the 159 that were killed in Afghanistan and Iraq because of what happened 20 years ago.”

Cameron points out the events in Sylvan Lake and Lacombe were both well attended.

“In Sylvan Lake we probably had about 250 or so and in Lacombe, it was probably around half of that,” says Cameron. ‘In Lacombe, the Lacombe Legion partnered with us to be our host community and they made an amazing event happen for us there.”

In Sylvan Lake, however, as the event was wrapping up, Cameron says police had to shut them down early.

“Everything went well and we were just getting ready to do an aerial photograph of everyone who was at the site and RCMP approached me and asked me to please clear the field as soon as possible because they had an anonymous phone-in threat,” he explains.

Cameron admits that learning of the alleged threat was both shocking and sad.

“I was little angry because we have lots of people coming to these events to take them in and appreciate them and it only takes one person to try to ruin that,” shares Cameron. “Everybody was still in good spirits and everybody cleared the field as quickly as possible, but we had an amazing event and it’s going to take a lot more than that to dampen our spirits with what we’re trying to do.”

Sgt. Stephanie Lesyk, Sylvan Lake RCMP, confirmed with rdnewsNOW that the threat was investigated and deemed to be unfounded.