Canada marks 2011 Remembrance Day

Canadians gathered in Ottawa and across the country on Friday, the Remembrance Day, to remember the veterans who were killed in military service since the First World War. At the National War Memorial in downtown Ottawa, Prime Minister Stephen Harper, Governor General David Johnston and other dignitaries laid wreaths as thousands packed the ceremony ground singing "O Canada", the national anthem amid gun salute. In a statement released Thursday, Harper paid tribute to the country's veterans. "We honor generations of brave Canadian men and women in uniform who have fought to defend our country and to promote and protect the values of freedom, democracy, human rights and the rule of law," he said. Cenotaphs in major cities and towns across the country hosted events similar to that in Ottawa. Earlier on Friday, a Remembrance Day ceremony was held at Kandahar Airfield, where Canada's Defense Minister Peter MacKay honored Canada's soldiers who were killed in Afghanistan. Remembrance Day is a memorial day observed on Nov. 11 to recall the official end of the World War I on that date in 1918 in Commonwealth countries and remember the sacrifices of members of the armed forces and civilians in times of war.