highway of heroes 65 overpasses on highway 401
memorials | afghanistan by christine leu
memorials highways ad hoc ceremonies casualties
The Highway of Heroes is a stretch of the 401 Highway between Canadian Forces Base Trenton and the coroner’s office at the Centre for Forensic Sciences in downtown Toronto. It was renamed in honour of Canada’s fallen soldiers. Regardless of where a Canadian soldier is stationed, a soldier is repatriated at a ceremony at CFB Trenton, and then transported with a family and military automobile entourage to Toronto for an official autopsy. The current count of fallen soldiers who have travelled this route is over 130. The Highway of Heroes began as a grassroots movement. In an impromptu manner, people began to congregate on the 65 overpasses between Trenton and Toronto which represent the only
safe and accessible opportunity for the public to pay their respects to the country’s fallen: CFB Trenton is open only to family, military, dignitaries and media; the coroner’s office is also closed to the public. Despite the contentious nature of the Afghanistan War, the public ritual gained momentum and there were calls to officially name the route. The big break was when an online petition was mentioned on morning radio airwaves. The number of signees was a few thousand, but by 10:30am, the number had risen to over 9000. A few days later on August 24 2007, the Highway of Heroes was officially designated by Ontario Premier Dalton McGuinty, in the midst of his successful re-election campaign.
22 On Site review 22: WAR
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