(Photo: submitted by MADD Atlantic Canada)

A special ceremony of hope and remembrance will be held in Moncton on Saturday, August 6th.

Family and friends will gather at MADD Canada’s New Brunswick Memorial Monument.

Atlantic Canada Victim Services Manager Meghann Wetmore says 58 names of those who have died as a result of an impaired driver are etched in the monument, “The Memorial is basically the basis of what MADD Canada stands behind, which is supporting victims and survivors of impaired driving. So it’s just a beautiful way to bring families together to remember and honour their loved ones. It also allows other families to meet each other and connect in their grief. It’s quite a beautiful and powerful ceremony because in paying tribute to them, we light a candle in their honour and lay a flower on the monument. And it’s a good way to bring our grief together and to remember our loved ones.”

The ceremony will be held at 1 pm at the Fairhaven Memorial Gardens on Salisbury Road.

MADD Canada National President Jaymie-Lyne Hancock says, “It also emphasizes to the public that impaired driving is not a victim-less crime; it kills and injures thousands of Canadians every year, and it is completely, 100%, preventable.”

MADD Canada currently has provincial monuments to honour victims of impaired driving in New Brunswick, Manitoba, Newfoundland and Labrador, Nova Scotia, Saskatchewan, Alberta and Quebec, with plans underway to unveil an Ontario Monument in 2023.