In photos: U of T marks Remembrance Day 2025 across its three campuses

Published: November 11, 2025

By Rahul Kalvapalle

Members of the University of Toronto and wider community gathered at Remembrance Day services across the three campuses to pay tribute to those who served and lost their lives in the First and Second World Wars and other conflicts - and to honour those who continue to serve today.

On the St. George campus, hundreds assembled outside Soldiers' Tower as a recital was performed on the tower's 51-bell carillon.

Peter MacLaurin, chair of the Soldiers' Tower committee, offered an Indigenous land acknowledgement and words of welcome - which included paying homage to the contributions of Brig. Oliver Martin, a veteran of the First and Second World Wars who was the first Indigenous person to attain the rank of brigadier in Canada's military.

U of T President Melanie Woodin then paid tribute to U of T alumni, students, faculty, librarians and staff who have served Canada.

The service also featured a performance of the Naval Hymn, a wreath laying and a recitation of the poem In Flanders Fields, written by U of T alum Lt.-Col. John McCrae in 1915.

At U of T Scarborough, a Remembrance Day ceremony was held in The Meeting Place, with the Highland Creek Colour Guard from Royal Canadian Legion Branch 258 participating in the event for the first time. The ceremonies also included remarks by Linda Johnston, U of T vice-president and principal of U of T Scarborough, and performances by the UTSC Concert Band and Concert Choir & String Orchestra.

U of T Mississauga's Service of Remembrance was held outside the Davis Building. Alexandra Gillespie, U of T vice-president and principal of U of T Mississauga, offered remarks and placed a wreath during the ceremony.

Here's how the U of T community marked Remembrance Day 2025 through the lenses of photographers:

Attended by hundreds of U of T community members, the 2025 Remembrance Day ceremony at U of T St. George featured acknowledgements of the 80^th anniversary of the liberation of the Netherlands by the Canadian Forces, as well as the 80^th anniversary of the end of the Second World War.

Cpl. Kevin Zhao, left, a student in the Faculty of Music and member of the Queen's Own Rifles of Canada Band & Bugles, played the Last Post during the ceremony on the St. George campus. Piper Rory Sinclair, right, followed with a rendition of the Lament.

Melanie Woodin, U of T's 17^th president, and Anna Kennedy, chair of U of T's Governing Council, paid their respects.

U of T Scarborough's Remembrance Day ceremony, held in The Meeting Place, included a march by the Highland Creek Colour Guard from Royal Canadian Legion Branch 258 and remarks from Linda Johnston, U of T vice-president and principal of U of T Scarborough.

Alexandra Gillespie (centre), U of T vice-president and principal of U of T Mississauga, Richard Waters (left), representative of United Steelworkers Local 1998 and Faisal Halabeya (right), PhD student of physics and president of the U of T Mississauga Association of Graduate Students, laid wreaths at U of T Mississauga's Service of Remembrance.

Maj. John D. Stewart, an alum of Woodsworth College at U of T, laid a wreath at the Soldiers' Tower on the St. George campus.

Members of the Hart House Chorus performed the Naval Hymn at the beginning of Remembrance Day ceremonies on the St. George campus. Later, during the placing of wreaths, the choir performed the elegy They Are at Rest and the British hymn I Vow to Thee, My Country.

Dianne Saxe, councillor for the City of Toronto's Ward 11 - University-Rosedale (front row, left), and Chrystia Freeland, member of Parliament for University-Rosedale and Canada's special envoy for the reconstruction of Ukraine (front row, right), were among the government representatives to attend the ceremony on the St. George campus. Jessica Bell, member of provincial parliament for University-Rosedale, was also in attendance.

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