Students from across Canada pledge to recite In Flanders Fields this Remembrance Week

The Vimy Foundation is 75% towards its goal of 100,000 participants

TORONTO, Nov. 9, 2015 /CNW/ - This year marks the centennial anniversary of the writing of In Flanders Fields, the iconic Canadian poem from Lieutenant Colonel John McCrae. We no longer have any veterans of the First World War still with us: we have lost that direct connection with their stories - of the tragedy of war, of the reasons why they enlisted to fight, of the impact of the war on them, their families, and their country.

This Remembrance Week (November 5-11, 2015), the Vimy Foundation is calling on all Canadian schools to help pass the torch of remembrance by reciting In Flanders Fields in their classrooms.

Since the campaign was launched on October 26, 2015, teachers and principals from every province and territory in Canada have registered their classrooms and schools to recite In Flanders Fields during Remembrance Week. In total more than 75,000 students have pledged their participation and the Vimy Foundation hopes to reach its goal of having 100,000 Canadian students registered by Remembrance Day.

Founded in 2006, the mission of the Vimy Foundation is to preserve and promote Canada's First World War legacy, as symbolized with the victory at the Battle of Vimy Ridge in April 1917, a milestone when Canada came of age and was then recognized on the world stage.

For more information about the Vimy Foundation and the In Flanders Fields 100 initiative, please visit our website at https://www.vimyfoundation.ca/recite-in-flanders-fields/.

SOURCE VIMY FOUNDATION

Jennifer Blake, Communications Coordinator, Vimy Foundation, [email protected], 416.595.1917 ext.2