Remembrance Day in North Vancouver 2026: The Victoria Park Service and Parade

North Vancouver's Remembrance Day is run by the North Shore Veterans' Council Canada rather than by the City alone, and it is a parade that ends at a cenotaph in a park. The City of North Vancouver and the District of North Vancouver are separate municipalities, and this is the City's service.

"At the going down of the sun and in the morning, we will remember them." Royal Canadian Legion, North Vancouver

The short version

• When: Wednesday, November 11, 2026.
• Parade: forms at the Armoury on Forbes Avenue and steps off at 9:15am, led by the JP Fell Pipe Band.
• Service: Victoria Park Cenotaph. The public is asked to be there by 10am, and the service begins at 10:45am.
• After: the parade returns up Lonsdale Avenue toward 15th Street and back to the Armoury by about noon.
• Livestream: available from the North Shore Veterans' Council Canada at nsvcc.ca.
• Cost: free. Veterans who wish to march are welcome to join the parade.

The parade

The parade begins at the Armoury on Forbes Avenue at 9:15am and marches to the Victoria Park Cenotaph, led by the JP Fell Pipe Band. It is the part of the morning worth arriving early for, because the route fills up and the pipe band is audible long before the column reaches the park.

Veterans who want to take part are explicitly welcome to fall in. You do not need to be a member of a particular branch to march.

The service at Victoria Park

The public is asked to gather at the Victoria Park Cenotaph by 10am. The service begins at 10:45am, which puts the act of remembrance and the two minutes of silence at the eleventh hour where they belong. Browse the North Vancouver business directory for local businesses.

Victoria Park sits at East Keith Road near Lonsdale Avenue, a short walk uphill from the bottom of Lonsdale and reachable from the SeaBus by way of the 230 or a fifteen minute walk. Expect the usual shape of a civic service: an honour guard, the pipe band, readings, the silence, and wreath laying.

One practical note. The City posts its notice for the year in early November. The cenotaph, the parade route and the 10:45am start have been the same in recent years, so plan around the times above.

Getting there, and what closes

Full road closures are in effect along West 15th Street, East 14th Street, Lonsdale Avenue toward Victoria Park, and the 100 block of East Keith Road, from 9am until 2pm. During that window local traffic is only allowed to exit the 100 block of West Keith Road.

That means driving to the cenotaph is a poor plan. Come by transit, or walk up from Lonsdale Quay, and expect delays on anything crossing 15th or Lonsdale during the morning.

Look for the poppies on the way. Handmade poppies are placed in the Central Lonsdale city parklets at 14th and 15th Street, made by school students with the City's Play CNV programme, and they line the parade route.

The poppy, and what changed this year

The poppy campaign funds Veterans and their families, and money raised locally stays in the community where it was donated.

The change for 2026 is the date. The National Poppy Campaign now starts on October 24, a new permanent annual start date, moved up from the traditional last Friday of October. So poppies are out about a week earlier than people expect. The campaign runs to November 11, and branches set their own local timing, so a box appearing later than the 24th is normal.

How to give:

• Traditional boxes in shops and at Legion branches, still the most common.
• Pay Tribute tap boxes, run with RBC, in hundreds of locations. One tap of a card, phone or watch donates $5.
• Point of sale at partners such as Starbucks, passed to the local branch.
• TD branches, which distribute poppies across the country.
• At the door, through the Legion's Amazon Canada collaboration, now in its third year, with biodegradable poppies.
• Online through the Legion's national site.

The Legion also unveils a new donation technology on October 24, which it calls a first for a national fundraising campaign and has not yet detailed. It sits alongside the tap boxes rather than replacing them.

Flypasts, and why there is no time to give you yet

The Royal Canadian Air Force marks Remembrance Day with flypasts over ceremonies across the country, and a waterfront city with a cenotaph in a park is the kind of setting one passes over. The catch is the notice: routes and times are released only in the day or two before November 11, not weeks out. As of late October no 2026 Lower Mainland route had been published, so any precise time printed now would be invented.

In recent years British Columbia has seen a CP-140 Aurora over Lower Mainland ceremonies. If a flypast is confirmed this year it will be announced by the RCAF and reported locally in the first week of November. Either way, be at the cenotaph by 10am. A flypast happens over the service, not on a separate schedule you can attend.

Questions often asked

What time is the service? The parade leaves the Armoury on Forbes Avenue at 9:15am. The public is asked at the Victoria Park Cenotaph by 10am, and the service begins at 10:45am.

Where is the cenotaph? Victoria Park, at East Keith Road near Lonsdale Avenue.

Who runs it? The North Shore Veterans' Council Canada, with the City of North Vancouver.

Can I march? Veterans who wish to participate are welcome to join the parade.

Can I watch if I cannot attend? Yes. The North Shore Veterans' Council Canada livestreams it at nsvcc.ca.

Is this the same as the District of North Vancouver's service? No. The City and the District are separate municipalities with separate ceremonies. This is the City's, at Victoria Park.

Where do I get a poppy? From boxes in shops and at Legion branches, from the tap boxes in partner locations, at Starbucks tills, at TD branches, online through the Legion, or delivered through the Legion's Amazon storefront. The campaign now opens on October 24.