Documentary series revisits Canadian sites affected by wars

Remembrance Day ceremonies tend to focus on the battlegrounds of Europe, like VimyRidge andJuno Beach, where Canadians fought and died in two world wars.

A new documentary series, to be screened in Victoria and Ottawa, shifts the focus to locations in Canada that played an important role in the First and Second World Wars.

"A lot of our Canadian war heritage is based on places overseas," producer and director Geoffrey Bird said.

• National War Memorial to close to public during restoration
• Vimy Ridge's shock and awe remembered
• Surf, sand and shrapnel? Relics still scattered across D-Day beaches

The 26 short documentaries in War Memories Across Canadaprofile historical sites including:

• The "soldier factory" at Valcartier Quebec;
• The Alberta ranch that supplied many of the "war horses" in the First World War, and
• The secret assembly point at William Head on Vancouver Island for the Chinese Labour Corps.

War Memories Across Canada will be screened at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa on Nov. 10.

Selected excerpts from the series will also be featured at the Royal B.C. Museum's Remembrance commemoration events on Nov. 11.

It will also be screened at the Canadian War Museum, Nov.10.

Inspired by tourism work

Bird, who is a professor and director at Royal Roads University's school of tourism and hospitality,said the documentary project was inspired by his work as a guide at the Vimy Ridge memorial in France long ago, as well as his later doctoral research on the D-Day landing beaches of Normandy.

He was struck by thepower of both sites in France, especially the impact they had on people whovisited, particularly Canadians.

Many people travel to see the open spaces of Normandy's beaches every year to learn about what happened in the summer of 1944, Bird said.

"The story is layered over top, and it results in this amazing experience for people, in terms of thinking about the past and feeling a connection with the past."

For the documentary series, Bird sought outsitesacross Canadathat were affected by wars.

He also sought local voices to recount the cultural memory of the sites, passed down through families, local guides, Parks Canada employees, artists or folk singers.

"They become our guardians of memory," Bird said.

With files from CBC Radio One's On The Island

To hear the full story, click on the audio labelled:Documentaries examine war's imprint on Canadian soil