Planning has begun for this year’s Service of Remembrance at TD Station on November 11.

Due to the pandemic and public health restrictions, the annual service was paused for the past two years.

However, a re-energized Saint John Remembrance Day Committee has started the planning process for this year.

“We feel that it is time and we’ll probably encourage people if they wish to wear a mask, but we’re going to go ahead and do the best we can to bring back that beautiful ceremony that people have been expecting of Saint John,” said Bernard Cormier, chair of the committee.

In lieu of the traditional ceremony in 2020, a roll-pass took place outside of the arena. That, too, was cancelled last year due to a high number of COVID-19 cases in the region.

Cormier said the committee has been in contact with military commanders to help with organizing the ceremony.

“We’ve discussed who’s going to be laying the official wreaths. We only lay nine official wreaths at the ceremony at TD Station. We talked about music. We talked about the cenotaph guards. We talked about the parade positions, which are all mostly military positions, and which individuals are going to fill those positions,” he said.

Cormier said there will also be an artillery gun at the ceremony to mark the moments of silence.

The committee will meet again on October 18 to discuss the ceremony further.

Cormier added the event is free to the public. In past years, the ceremony has seen crowds of more than 6,000 people.