A locally community-driven group is helping get the message out about this year’s Canadian Naval Centennial.
Titled Glorious & Free, the awareness campaign launched yesterday at Halifax City Hall is designed to promote the centennial and the many events taking place in Halifax.
The group behind Glorious & Free is volunteer based and was developed through the Community Leadership Advisory Council, which was established in 2007 to advise, assist and provide recommendations to the Navy on community engagement and the role it plays in the community.
The Glorious & Free campaign is calling on HRM businesses to get on aboard and make the centennial even more known around the municipality — through things like company emails to staff, word of mouth or a corporate newsletter.
“We felt it was important to bring the centennial to the people and the people to the centennial,” said Kim West, who helped bring the Glorious & Free campaign to life.
The grass-roots campaign is music to the ears for the navy, especially those in charge of putting together the more than a dozen events for Halifax from now to early September.
“Galvanizing this amount of community support is tremendous. We couldn’t ask for anything better,” said Capt. (Navy) Craig Walkington, the Maritime Forces Atlantic, Canadian Naval Centennial co-ordinator.
While a few events have taken place, the first-big celebration is next Tuesday on the exact date of the navy’s official 100th birthday — May 4. The celebration will feature several events, including 1,000 navy personnel marching to Halifax City Hall for the Freedom of the City Parade and a proclamation of May 4 as Navy Centennial Day by Mayor Peter Kelly.
“It’s a very big day for us — obviously because you only have one centennial in your life,” Walkington said. “The city of Halifax and the navy are so closely bonded that we know the citizens of Halifax will also recognize that this is a very big day for us.”
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A complete list of Canadian Naval Centennial activities is available at canadiannavy100.forces.gc.ca
