Nova Scotia/Nunavut Command of The Royal Canadian Legion www.ns.legion.ca 9 The memorial took monument designer Walter Seymour Allward eleven years to build and on 26 July 1936, King Edward VIII of England unveiled the memorial in the presence of more than 50,000 Canadian and French veterans, and their families. In preparation for the 1936 Vimy Pilgrimage for the memorial’s unveiling, the Government of Canada made a special Vimy passport available to pilgrims, at no extra cost to the recipients. On 16 July 1936, five trans-Atlantic liners departed the port of Montreal for the unveiling of the Canadian National Vimy Memorial in France. About 6,400 people sailed on the five steamships from Canada and 1,365 Canadians came from England. Edward VIII, in his capacity as King of Canada, officially unveiled the monument. The ceremony was one of the King's few official duties before he abdicated the throne. In May 2001, the Government of Canada announced the Canadian Battlefield Memorials Restoration Project, a major 30 million Canadian dollar restoration project to restore Canada's memorial sites in France and Belgium, in order to maintain and present them in a respectful and dignified manner. In 2005, the Vimy memorial closed for major restoration work. Veterans Affairs Canada directed the restoration of the memorial in cooperation with other Canadian departments, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, consultants and specialists in military history. Queen Elizabeth II rededicated the restored memorial on 9 April 2007 in a ceremony commemorating the 90th anniversary of the battle. Senior Canadian officials and senior French representatives attended the event, along with thousands of Canadian students, veterans of the Second World War and of more recent conflicts, and descendants of those who fought at Vimy Ridge. The rededication ceremony comprised the largest crowd on the site since the 1936 dedication. The Vimy Memorial (continued)
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