Hundreds gathered Wednesday for a Remembrance Day ceremony at an arena in Wainwright, Alta., to honour those who served and died, including four soldiers killed last month in a fire during a training exercise.
The ceremony began with a moment of silence at the 11th hour and with words about the deadly Oct. 17 fire at nearby Canadian Forces Base Wainwright, southeast of Edmonton.
Pte. Shaun Farrell, 23, of Prince Albert, Sask.; Pte. Aidan Goulding, 23, of North Vancouver; and Pte. Hayden Lykkemark, 19, of Langley, B.C.; and Sgt. Morgan Wong, 26, of Edmonton died in the blaze.
Thirty-nine others were injured, and many are still recovering in hospital.
Prime Minister Mark Carney has called it one of the worst tragedies for the Armed Forces on Canadian soil during peacetime. Three investigations are looking into what happened.
Federal Conservative Leader Pierre Poilievre attended the Wainwright service, along with other dignitaries, military members and veterans.
Poilievre visited the town shortly after the fire and met some of the injured soldiers. He said he heard astonishing stories of bravery.
“The courage of soldiers who literally ran into walls of fire to pull their brothers and sisters out of danger,” he said at the time.
“Soldiers who were burned head to toe in the hospital, some with their vision lost, actually joking around with the nurses to try and make the nurses feel more comfortable.”
Roughly 84 soldiers with the Charlie Company unit of the 3rd Battalion Princess Patricia’s Canadian Light Infantry were taking part in attack training, when a windstorm sent flames from a grass fire onto the troops.
Roughly 300 members of the same regiment marched into a Remembrance Day service in St. Albert, a bedroom community northwest of Edmonton.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Nov. 11, 2026.