War museum to honour Vimy
By Rielly Riggs
Canadians will commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge this April, and the Canadian War Museum is hosting initiatives and exhibits to commemorate the First World War fight that helped define the country’s national identity.
“It’s an event that many Canadians have a great deal of say about the kind of country we are,” said Peter MacLeod, director of research at the Canadian War Museum. “And this represents an achievement and a sacrifice that are worth remembering.”
Victory in the battle was one of the major Canadian achievements of the First World War. Canada had four divisions. All four Canadian divisions came together to fight German troops at Vimy Ridge, near Arras, France, and the Canadians were able to achieve what the British and French troops had been unable to do.
“This victorious battle for the Canadian military demonstrated their ability to combine their tactical and technical methods, which allowed them to come up on top,” said Ashleigh Gomez, a Canadian Studies student at Carleton University. “Ultimately, Canada was viewed to have gained its nationhood and national identity through this battle.”
Tim Cook, a Canadian War Museum historian and Carleton University professor, will present a talk at the LeBreton Flats museum on March 30. He will be speaking about how people commemorate battles like Vimy Ridge.
“He will be talking about the battle and how people have thought about the battle,” said MacLeod.
A brand new temporary exhibition, Vimy — Beyond the Battle, will be showcased. Artifacts from the museum’s collections and ones loaned by organizations and individuals will be displayed starting April 6.
In this exhibit, viewers will see ceramic poppies from the 2014 Tower of London poppy installation — where hundreds of thousands of commemorative poppies filled a moat — as well as a Highway of Heroes banner and a buffalo robe that belonged to an Indigenous soldier from Alberta’s Kainai reserve.
In addition to this new exhibit, Cook will be leading the revamping of the existing Vimy section of the First World War gallery at the museum.
Viewers will be able to see new stories, photos and artifacts.
“The centenary of Vimy is a two-part exhibition,” said Avra Gibbs-Lamey, the senior communications and media officer for the museum. “The special exhibition serves as commemoration, but the upgrade of the Vimy section is equally as important. This gallery section serves to understand the battle.”
The war museum will not be the only location commemorating the historic battle. An exhibit called Fields of Battle Through Canadian Eyes, which was previously shown at the museum, will appear at the Musée des Beaux-Arts in Arras starting on March 18.
The Ottawa museum is also working with the Juno Beach Centre in France to produce an exhibition, called From Vimy to Juno.
Juno Beach was a key landing site for Canadian troops during the pivotal 1944 D-Day invasion of Normandy during the Second World War.
During the centenary of the Battle of Vimy Ridge from April 9-12, the war museum will host Vimy highlight tours throughout its galleries and exhibits, a large-scale model of the battle will be displayed, and a concert will be performed.
“Many countries have iconic battles that they feel say something about their country,” said Macleod. “For us, it’s Vimy Ridge.”