FORT WILLIAM FIRST NATION — Remembrance Day ceremonies have been taking place at the top of Mount McKay for nearly 30 years, thanks to a local veteran and resident of the First Nation.
Pte. Frank Banning organized the first Remembrance Day ceremony atop the mountain in 1994 after he became triggered by his post-traumatic stress disorder from his time in the Second World War with the Lake Superior Regiment.
His daughter, Catherine Banning, said that organizing the event was medicinal for him.
"It helped him deal with his PTSD, and it helped him remember all of the comrades that he was with overseas, some of him, his best friends," she said, as the ceremony was held on Saturday.
After her father was admitted to the hospital for stress-induced health issues a day before the first ceremony, Catherine was asked by her father to speak for him.
"He looked at me on the bed in the emergency and said to me, 'you have to do the service for me tomorrow, my girl' and I've been doing it ever since for him," she said.
"It's an honour that we're able to have this service on our mountain, in our way, with the traditional drumming as well as some of the traditional regimental military service. It's fabulous that we have First Nations from across the region represented and up into the far north with the NAN group, the Robinson Superior Treaty Territory, which is Fort William First Nation. And many of the regiments from all across the world, like we have the Polish Legion here, and we have the Italians as well."
The event featured several local dignitaries representing Fort William First Nation, city and police officials, and numerous groups ranging from local Royal Canadian Legion branches to diverse cultural regiments, and family members who were there to honour their loved ones and community members. Outside of the formal wreaths being laid, there were additional wreaths that family members of loved ones laid within the monument.
"It's particularly important for children to witness the ceremony, witness the respect shown to veterans so that they can carry on with that respect and hopefully come to a day when there is no more wars, and we can live in peace all together, and the children are really going to be part of that," Banning said.
"They're the ones that are going to drive that peaceful world."
