Flags of Remembrance won’t be flying at Windsor’s waterfront this year

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An eye-catching display of Canadian flags commemorating soldiers killed or missing in action will not return to Windsor’s waterfront this year.

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For the first time since 2017, a lack of support for the local Flags of Remembrance project has prompted Veterans Voices of Canada founder Al Cameron to pull the plug.

“I wish we saw the support from previous years,” Cameron told the Star during a call from Sylvan Lake, Alberta, where he lives.

His Facebook post on Friday about shutting down the Windsor flag tribute garnered dozens of comments from people disappointed to see the project stop. But prior posts made over the past year seeking sponsors for plaques of honor — maple leaf-shaped nameplates adorning veterans’ names affixed to each flag — received little or no response.

“It’s great to see that it will be missed, but I had to make that hard decision for this year because I just had to take the stress off of Kirk,” Cameron said.

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Since 2020, Kirk St. Pierre, a full-time millwright in Windsor-Essex, has co-ordinated the flag display, which sees 128 15-foot tall metal flagpoles erected along the riverfront each September. Each flag represents 1,000 of the 128,000 Canadians killed or missing in action between the Boer War and Afghanistan.

Although St. Pierre was able to find volunteers to help put the flags up, maintenance was another story. From September until shortly after Remembrance Day, while the flags were flying, he would stop by as often as he could to check for vandalism and weather damage, often enlisting passersby to help him replace missing or torn flags.

“The last thing you want to do is have a site that’s paying homage to your fallen and have your flags in disarray,” St. Pierre said. “It couldn’t be more disrespectful, in my opinion — you want to keep on it.”

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Flag management is only one part of the year-round initiative. Much of the work involves coordinating the annual opening and closing ceremonies, which involves lining up local officials, pipers, veterans groups, sergeants-at-arms, and others. In addition, someone must lead fundraising efforts and seek out plaque sponsors at $200 minimum a piece. That also entails collecting detailed information from sponsors about veterans, transferring it to spreadsheets, and sending it out to a scribe in Alberta.

Much of that work previously fell on Terri Davis-Fitzpatrick’s shoulders. A fierce advocate for veterans, Davis-Fitzpatrick had to step away from her role as ella as event co-ordinator after three successful years to tend to family commitments.

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Her father, Charles Davis, who she cares for, landed on Juno Beach four days after D-Day. He turns 100 in September.

The Flags of Remembrance and plaques of honor were “good while it lasted,” Davis-Fitzpatrick said. “There’s nobody who wants to take that work on — it was a huge undertaking.”

When Davis-Fitzpatrick stepped back, “I found it hard to find a representative to act in all of the categories that were needed,” Cameron said. St. Pierre, who volunteered at several of the events, was able to take responsibility for the flags and flagpoles, but not the fundraising or event planning.

“We needed other people to come in and support in other ways,” Cameron said. “We were hoping that there would be another veteran community group to come forward. I approached a few of them and they weren’t interested.”

As part of Veterans Voices of Canada, Cameron began Flags of Remembrance in 2014. Each participating city raises 128 flags in September.

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