The 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month. Every year the residents of Schreiber, Ontario brave the cruel November cold and wind and gather at the cenotaph in the centre of town to pay respects and remember those that fought in wars for our freedoms. Traditionally residents and business owners would gather in the morning and lay wreaths to honour the fallen soldiers.

But this year, traditional ceremonies have been delayed, altered or completely cancelled due the ongoing onslaught that is COVID 19. The Royal Canadian Legion branch 109 had made a request to council that during this years remembrance day event should be unattended by members of the public as a means to highlight the importance of the ongoing fight to get the virus under control and show support for social distancing. Paula Kinney of the Ladies Auxiliary of the Local branch had contacted the township to see if it might be possible to have a live event streamed. As the town had no means to do so, CAO Nathan Dias reached out to Schreiber Media Centre’s Kim Krause to inquire about the possibility of live streaming this years ceremony. This would prove to be challenging as no live events had been undertaken by the SMC to date. Aside from the uncertain weather, lack of available electricity, and non existent internet connection in town, the decision to give it a shot was made. Tests had to be done and a lot of preplanning would be needed to pull off this event. David Costa of the Schreiber Public Library was recruited as cameraman and assistant. The day before the ceremony was to take place, temperatures had plunged to minus 10 degrees Celsius with a heavy snow storm predicted for the late evening and into the morning. On arrival the first task was to establish a power source. The North Shore Harvest Cupboard food bank was very helpful in providing access to their electricity and a 100 metre extension cord was brought in by the Legion. Cabled up and ready to go, the next step was to configure a cellphone as a hotspot for internet in order to stream the service. The end result was quite a success except for the fact the video quality was a bit lacking but residents were able to tune in and take part from their homes. Lessons learned from this: reliable internet is no longer a luxury in the world we live in, residents and council saw first hand the important role that media provided in our little town, and finally embrace challenge, that is how we learn and grow!

A remastered version of the event was created to allow people to enjoy the event in better quality.