This year at Algonquin, Remembrance Day celebrations have started as early as October fifth with the beginning of 2015 edition of The World Remembers project.
Launched in 2014 by Robert Thomson, TWR is a project aimed to publically display the names of the military members who died in the First World War.
“It’s a war that killed 26 million people,” said Thomson, TWR producer. “68 thousand of those were Canadians.”
The Toronto-based project is remembering these people as individuals, projecting the names of the fallen onto screens in over 60 locations around the world from early October up until Remembrance Day.
“We had to try to make those numbers real,” said Thomson. “We had to make them more than just pieces of information.”
One of the ways Thomson made these numbers real is by compiling a database that lists all the WWI military deaths from which you can search for individuals as well as the date and time that their names will appear.
“The showing of the names isn’t the end product,” said Thomson. “It’s made to make you think and leave an impression.”
Jeanette Alexiuk, the Algonquin Commons Theatre marketing coordinator, believes that these impressions will be enlightening.
“Although students were not directly affected by WWI and WWII, it is important to be educated on the impact that these wars had because it shaped our history,” said Alexiuk. “It gives students a strong reality of war and the destruction it brings.”
Student and SA vice-president Tomas Kolafa says he thinks it’s important to find a way to recognize the war heroes who were brave enough to fight.
“It’s important to be educated,” said Kolafa, a business management and entrepreneurship student. “As students we need to learn from the good and bad decisions our country leaders have made.”
TK quote from student with family member name being projected.
TWR is a Canadian non-profit organization that is financed by donations and the support of the contributing projects.
To view the names, you can go to the TWR website or visit the Student Commons, who will be projecting the names until Nov. 11. Other locations to view the names can also be found on the website.